Onward: A Yearlong Emotional Resiliency Immersion for Educators (3 Graduate Credits OR 30 Professional Hours)

“The cure for burnout is not self-care; it is all of us caring for each other. We can’t do it alone. We need each other.” - Amelia Nagoski - Co-author of “Burnout”

Audience: All educators including PK-12 teachers, administrators, school counselors, school-based clinicians, school social workers, librarians, school nurses, instructional coaches, interventionists, and any additional support staff and personnel

Format: Two cohorts will be offered: Central Vermont and Northern Vermont. Course will meet for a full-day in August followed by monthly three hour classes in September through June. Please note that the location of the Northern Vermont cohort will be decided based on a central location for attendees.

Dates: August 2024 - June 2025

According to a 2022 survey conducted by the National Education Association, 90 percent of members say feeling burnout is a serious problem (67 percent said it was a very serious problem). Additionally, 55 percent of educators stated that they were thinking about leaving the profession sooner than planned which is almost double the number saying the same in July 2020. This is a serious issue. Although many of the factors contributing to burnout such as teacher shortages, lack of mental health support for students, increased need for additional support staff, and low teacher salaries, are outside of our locus of control, we can develop habits and dispositions to increase our individual resilience and thus became an emotionally resilient educator, finding more joy in our career as an educator.

In this immersive experience, educators will be provided the structure, knowledge, and guidance to reflect on their professional journey, contemplate change, practice new ways of being, and co-create a community of support. Throughout the school year, we will learn strategies and apply mindset shifts to manage stress and overcome the challenges of the teaching profession. Monthly class times will be supported as a confidential place to celebrate bright spots and share struggles as we work to learn from one another and cultivate resilience.

Through our main text, Onward, we will explore a different habit and correlating disposition each month that relates to the typical challenge in school settings during that month of the year.

To kick off the course, each cohort will have a full day opening class which will include a mixture of dialogue, reflection, community building, goal setting, teaching and guidance in practices to settle and ground the nervous system both indoors and outside in nature, a delicious dietary-inclusive shared meal, and overall wholehearted and introductory experience to ground us in our work for the upcoming school year.

To learn more about this course, check out the syllabus here.

Have questions? Contact Tara directly here.