Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator

Self-Care

“Self-care is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation.” Audre Lorde.

Dear Families,

At the beginning of last week, I was feeling really flat. My eyes felt tired and I lacked energy. I’d just spent a couple of days online. I thought of our teachers who seem to be online so much more than me! Although our staff are always so positive, committed, and caring, this pandemic has thrown a spanner into the works. We have all been challenged and pushed out of our comfort zones time and time again. I’m sure this is the same for many of us in our community. But what could I do to help?

One of my online sessions was about ‘self-care’. How could I have nearly missed it – this was staring me right in the face. I decided to lead our staff through two professional learning sessions on self-care. The first session was making a self-care plan. Staff considered five areas of their lives that they could focus self-care on: physical, emotional, spiritual, social, and chill. Together we discussed ways that we could take care of ourselves in each of these areas. At the end of the session, I encouraged staff to pick one thing from their list to do straight away. I received some very positive messages the next day. The following session we worked more on our self-care plan and committed to making positive changes in our daily routines. We even had a few good belly laughs at some different things. Laughter is such great medicine. Kevin Hart said, “Laughter heals all wounds, and that's one thing that everybody shares. No matter what you're going through, it makes you forget about your problems. I think the world should keep laughing.” He would say that – he’s a comedian!

This week you may consider making a self-care plan for yourself. You might even want to make one together with other members of the family. Google ‘self-care plans’ to get some inspiration. Here are some areas you could think about for your self-care plan:

• Spiritual
• Physical
• Social
• Emotional
• Relaxation
• Professional
• Financial
• Psychological
• Self-Talk
• Mood.

Have a great week and let’s hope we’re all back at school really soon.

Thanks for your support,

Andy McNeilly

Mental Health and Wellbeing Coordinator