Emotional Health Looking After Ourselves Aims To develop

Emotional Health Looking After Ourselves

Aims • To develop an awareness of the signs and symptoms of stress. • To understand the contribution of lifestyle to maintaining emotional health and wellbeing. • To understand the principles of effective time management.

Teaching – An easy job? • Long holidays – 13 weeks. • Short days – finish at 3 pm. • Extra days for training.

Current Pressures on Teachers • Emotional labour. • Ethos within education. • Pace of change. • “Malevolent” inspectorate?

Definition of Stress “Stress is a process of mental, physical and emotional reactions, caused by a significant increase in pressure, without strengthening of coping resources”

Signs and Symptoms of Stress Try to identify at least two effects of stress under any of the headings below: • • How do you feel? How do you behave? How do you think? What happens to your body? Then discuss with your neighbour.

The Stress Curve TOO FEW DEMANDS Hebb, D 1972 TOO MANY DEMANDS

Maximising our Resilience Lifestyle Questionnaire • • Sleep Diet Exercise Relaxation

Relaxation (not Distraction) • • • Progressive muscle relaxation Deep breathing Massage Visual imagery Mindfulness Meditation

Effective Time Management • I work well if… • Task management • Delegation • Guidelines for saying “No” • Practical hints to boost resiliency

Evaluation “Something I shall do as a result of this session is…”