Tips for Promoting School Employee Wellness

Wellness is more important than ever for school employees. In a March 2020 survey,¹ teachers were asked to describe the emotions they felt most often each day. Anxiety was the most common.

Wellness activities can be simple and don’t necessarily take a lot of time or resources.

Physical activity is an activity you can implement to help lower stress and anxiety.²

A school employee wellness program can be organized by administrators, school health teams, or even a single school staff member wanting to make a difference.

School employees who model good physical and mental health behaviors help support students’ health and academic success.

Try these employee wellness activities to support physical and mental health.

• Remind staff about employee assistance programs with access to resources, referrals, and counseling.
• Recognize staff contributions and achievements and celebrate milestones with others.
• Hold exercise challenges (e.g., steps challenge, exercise minutes challenge).
• Find and share stress management and mental health resources and information.
• Build in physical activity breaks during the school day (can be done along with students).
• Have mindfulness meditation breaks for staff and students during the school day.
• Provide or attend professional development on social-emotional skills, trauma-informed approaches (understanding the impact of trauma on the individual), and resilience.