Funded in part by SAMHSA's Project AWARE initiative in collaboration with Connecticut State Department of Education and Connecticut Department of Children and Families
SCHOOL MENTAL HEALTH NEWSLETTER:
Resources for COVID and Beyond
Issue #4 - Staff Wellness
The fourth of a four-part series on resources for the school community
About this Newsletter
To help the school community transition during this stressful time, we have created four school mental health resources newsletters. Each newsletter will feature a weekly topic (identified by Connecticut Project AWARE school districts) and associated free resources for schools, caregivers, and students to help maintain social emotional competencies and engage in digital citizenship.

This week’s topic is  Staff Wellness  and includes resources to effectively manage anxiety, secondary traumatic stress and tips for engaging with positive social supports.   Other topics include: 

  • Mental Health and Social Emotional Learning (week one) - includes activities and handouts for educators and caregivers.
  • Caregiver Wellness (week two) includes tips and strategies for engaging in self-care and digital resources to help caregivers stay virtually connected.
  • Digital Citizenship (week three) - includes ways to help students engage in online learning and tips for helping maintain appropriate online behaviors.
Self-Care Strategies for Educators
Managing Anxiety During COVID-19
A handout from the RULER team at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence offers suggestions for educators and the school community on how to manage anxiety. Useful for COVID-related worries and acute daily stressors.  

*Key feature of this resource: Created by educators, for educators and the general public.
Self-Care Strategies for Teachers
This resource helps define self-care across six identified domains, explains why it’s important, lists strategies for engaging in self-care and offers examples of teachable self-care strategies in the classroom.

*Key feature of this resource: All strategies and activities are empirically-driven.
Tips for Developing a Return-to-School Roadmap
Understanding the needs of your district and school is the first step in developing a comprehensive return-to-school plan in a manner that promotes a healthy school climate. Preparing this in advance gives school administrators and leaders an opportunity to account for the structural and practical needs of all faculty, staff and students, as well as strategies to keep all healthy and safe. This resource divides the planning process into seven distinct categories, offering suggestions from the district and school perspective.  

*Key feature of this resource: This roadmap is data-driven, complements school decision-making and breaks down the planning process into three categories.
Resources for Secondary Traumatic Stress
Fact Sheet for Child-Serving Professionals
This resource provides an overview of secondary traumatic stress (STS) as the emotional toll of caring for others in distress describes who is at risk of developing it, offers strategies for preventing and treating STS and provides systems-level suggestions for organizations to become more trauma-informed. 

*Key feature of this resource: A brief, yet comprehensive resource.
Secondary Traumatic Stress and Intentional Self-Care
This resource contains two sets of packets: one to teach school staff about secondary traumatic stress (STS) and the second, to aid in the creation of both an individual and school-wide plan in order to promote self-care and resilience among school staff at risk of developing STS.

*Key feature of this resource: Easy-to-follow and interactive STS learning material.
To keep up with the latest information and resources related to families, educators and providers, check out these links from CHDI and our Project AWARE partners:

CHDI website:  COVID CHDI Portal

 CT State Department of Education website:  COVID SDE Portal

DCF website:  COVID DCF Portal
 
Read last week's newsletter on Digital Citizenship

If you would like to opt out of receiving future School Mental Health Newsletters, please email:  [email protected]
For more info about Project AWARE or this newsletter contact:
Child Health and Development Institute
860.679.1519 | [email protected]

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