Principal wants to know how to encourage staff wellness

Q: I’m a middle school principal and I recognize that my staff is tapped out. Some are doing great, and some are doing . . . not so great. I’ve talked to other principals and we all agree — this isn’t the time to have extra meetings, or to hold people to impossible standards, or to lose our cool. That’s all common sense. But people are going through some really hard times. Some have partners who have been laid off, some have gravely ill family members, some are single parents, some are living alone and feeling isolated. Their struggles are real. Frankly, I have some of my own. I’m feeling a little foggy. I live in a hard-hit part of the country where we all know someone who has succumbed to COVID-19. I know there’s a limit to what I realistically can do to encourage them to stay emotionally well, but I want to make sure I’m not missing something. I heard secondhand about another principal, for instance, who is offering staff access to free virtual yoga classes and having regular virtual staff happy hours. Maybe I’m not doing enough. I don’t know. That’s essentially my question.What could or should I be doing to keep my staff afloat? Thanks.

A: My guess is that if a parent came to you and asked how they could best support their middle schooler right now, you’d have no trouble coming up with a response. You’d encourage them to set realistic expectations for themselves and for their child, and to do whatever they need to do to manage their own anxiety and stay calm. You might tell them to make an effort to be the thermostat even if their kid is a wildly fluctuating thermometer. Or advise them not to sweat the small stuff, or to practice self-care, or to apologize when things inevitably go awry. You also might tell them to help their child identify coping strategies that work for them and encourage them to focus on what’s in their control. You might remind them that every child is going to have different social needs, different ways of responding to a crisis, and different levels of resilience.

My advice to you is not that dissimilar. No two staff members are going to have the same needs. As you point out, they all have a lot on their plates. They may have challenging home situations or insufficient resources. They may have underlying mental health issues, concerns about a partner’s job stability, or insecurity about their ability to execute on distance learning. They may be worrying about their students or contending with unreasonable parent demands. Across the board, everyone is dealing with massive changes on the home, work, and personal fronts. In other words, this is bigger than you, and you don’t have the power to fix everything for everyone. That doesn’t mean you’re helpless, though. Here are some practical steps you can take to foster staff wellness: