Self-care has never been the whole answer for educators. When wellness is treated as an individual responsibility, systemic strain goes unnamed and unresolved. This piece explores why educator burnout is structural, how working conditions shape wellbeing, and why shared responsibility matters in schools and districts across roles and leadership levels.
Solution #1 for teacher recruitment and retention is salary and benefits, and that’s typically outside a principal’s control. However, what
On Friday, April 18, from 3:30–4:30 PM (Arizona time), I’m hosting a free educator wellness workshop on Zoom called Self-Care
-by Dr. Tim Grivois, Executive Director When I think about the emotional toll that comes with helping others, I don’t
All of my clients are people who work in caring professions. As leaders and practitioners in organizations that help others, their commitment to compassion, professionalism, and justice is genuine and profound. For them, knowing that their work makes a difference holds tremendous intrinsic value, and is the reason why they persist.
Stress is what we feel when demands from others and the pressure we place on ourselves is greater than the resources we have to manage it all. Chronic stress is what we feel when we come to understand that the sources of our stress probably aren’t going away on their own.
For the past three years, I’ve attended and facilitated professional learning events about trauma-informed practice. Each event included a section on self-care. Sometimes I would share a breathing activity or a list of inexpensive ways participants might treat themselves or their staff. More recently, I’ve participated in Zoom-yoga, and have run across two or three invitations to online meditation groups.
This article is for leaders of caring organizations who work hard to take care of their people. The words and action steps below reflect the perspectives and experiences of caring professionals who have generously and kindly shared with me what they have learned about self-care.
Recently, I’ve been working with a number of schools, nonprofits, and government agencies on self-care. Because I only bring my clients tools that I believe in and can recommend with integrity, I’ve been doing a lot of work on my own wellness. The Eight Dimensions of Wellness have been one of the best ways to think about what happiness and success look like in my own life, so I’ve been creating resources that anyone can use to get to know themselves from the inside out and to make their own choices about how and what to do to build the kind of life they want to lead.
The more I work with caring professionals, the more I see how self-care is a laboratory that shows us from the inside out how giving and caring work. Working through the Eight Dimensions of Wellness myself, I’ve often noticed how my own goals often support everyone around me in surprising and beautiful ways.
