The role of a teacher is rewarding yet comes with many challenges. Teaching helps develop us as people – we experience growth physically, mentally, socially, and spiritually.
When we place value in wellness amongst our teaching teams, we empower our teachers to find ways to balance the demands of teaching by developing a holistic approach to overall wellbeing that spans both personal and professional life. With this perspective, we believe teacher wellbeing is a shared responsibility between both the individual and the workplace.
In the second year running, Bear Park has worked with Suzi Nevell at Sweet 7 to host regular Teacher Wellness workshops to invest in our teachers’ overall wellbeing as educational leaders that are healthy in both mind and body.
The latest Teacher Wellness workshop held at Bear Park Remuera focused on Sleep and Movement, where Suzi highlighted the importance of sleep, rest, and exercise. Teachers throughout Auckland engaged in an evening of discussions exploring topics around sleep including:
- The hormonal effects that occur when we sleep
- What happens when we don’t get enough sleep
- Sleep rituals, circadian stress and anxiety
- How to get better sleep and exercise around quality rest
Attendees also discussed the importance of exercise and learned some practical strategies for everyday use including:
- How to choose the right type of exercise
- How to use movement to help hormonal issues and anxiety
- How to use different types of exercise to mitigate individual stress
- What good posture looks like
- How to practice correct posture to maximise health benefits
Practical components of the workshop also provided teachers with the opportunity take part in spinal decompressions – one for the lower and one for the upper mid-back. Hip stretches, squatting, and lunging techniques were also included as part of this workshop.
The Teacher Wellness workshops at Bear Park are an ongoing initiative. We recognise the value of teacher wellbeing as integral to the life of a teaching professional and work collaboratively with our teachers to actively contribute to it.
