Connecting to Ourselves and Our Communities: The Path to Educator Well-being
- Gabrielle Plastrik
- Sep 13
- 4 min read
Gabrielle Plastrik
Educating Mindfully Board Member
Executive Functioning Coach at EdFront
Former K-12 English & Humanities Teacher
Washington, USA
When I think about every teacher well-being initiative a school I have worked at has offered, only three stand out in my mind as actually being useful to me in terms of my well-being. The first was just access to a place for physical well-being, like a calm/quiet space or a work-out space. A physical design that considers teacher well-being is certainly mindful of our needs as humans and also useful in actually allowing well-being practices within busy and stressful workdays.
One of the other two was a weekly circle conversation with other teachers where the topics were about our own learning experiences, values, and our experiences as educators in the world–outside of the school. In our Educating Mindfully Mindfulness-Based Learning Framework, being able to define and refine our values (presence), helps educators and students make decisions and connections, which then allows us to act as mindful global citizens. The connection to ourselves and our larger ecosystem is a key to embodied practice. These circles were required of all staff to model the circles we would lead with students, so they were not exclusively offered as a well-being practice. There was a practical, student-focused reason for the school to require participation in the circles. The added benefit–that we knew each other better as individuals, and knew what mattered to the other members of our circle–was a stronger staff community. That, too, had a direct positive impact on students’ experience. As the Education Research Bureau reports, “Research consistently shows that teacher well-being and student outcomes are intertwined.” This meta-analysis further indicates the strong correlation between the well-being of teachers, the well-being of students, and academic achievement.
The final stand-out initiative came from a school counselor. She set aside a day in January for teachers to engage in community service in small groups. Helping others is an excellent way to feel more connected, more grateful, and less stressed. Teachers help others all day long: it is a part of our job. So why is doing a self-contained act of community service useful for teacher well-being? The self-contained, non-transactional nature of the service is why it works as a well-being initiative. The job could be fully accomplished. We could work together and finish it. The same is seldom true of our work supporting young people on their journey toward citizenship and learnedness. There is always more to do or that we could do.
It was satisfying to pack the right amount of diapers into smaller packages and deliver them to the diaper bank. Or sew grocery bags for the foodbank. Or build toiletry baskets for the domestic violence shelter. The work was important and contained. I did not hear another teacher complain about the time away from giving feedback, organizing our classrooms, or attending a PD session. As this NPR story reminds listeners, "Volunteering or doing an act of kindness can distract you from some of the problems that you might be having, so you might be a little bit less reactive yourself," Kubzansky [a professor of social and behavioral sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health] says, "it may help to give you more perspective on what your own problems are." Educators are busy: the school admin finding the time to allow us to help the broader community showed that they cared about us and they cared about the community. Here, too, values and the broader community were the keys to a meaningful teacher well-being initiative.
Invitational Practices:
If you are in a position to make decisions about educator well-being, look for ways to connect educators to their values and then to connect those values to their lives in the broader community.
Think about integrating any of the ideas mentioned in this blog post and share your experience with our community.
Consider joining an upcoming Educating Mindfully Community Circle
What unique well-being practices has your school/district/team integrated into your learning community?
A powerful mindfulness-based learning strategy to support the well-being and mental health of all learning community members starts with the environment. Consider developing community agreements and integrating well-being as a commitment. See the companion mindfulness-based lesson inspiration below to integrate our framework component of “Well-Being Practices” into your classroom and school.
Featured companion Mindfulness-Based Learning Lesson Inspiration for Educating Mindfully Members:
Educating Mindfully members, be sure to log into your account before clicking the link so you are taken directly to this resource. Not a member yet and would like to gain access to this resource and more? Consider joining us today or ask your school/district leadership team to invest in an Educating Mindfully Group Membership so every staff member has access.
About the Author
Gabrielle Plastrik, NBCT, is an executive function coach for children, teens, and young adults with EdFront. Prior to working as a coach, Gabrielle taught English and humanities in K-12 schools for 19 years. Gabrielle grew up in Chicago, and she has lived and taught in many states: Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland, and Washington. Gabrielle graduated from the selective poetry creative writing sub-concentration at the University of Michigan and has an MSEd degree from Northwestern University. She is passionate about mindfulness in education, interpretive discussion, and the ways brains learn. She started her mindfulness in education journey in 2009 and has thoughtfully recalibrated mindfulness interventions for different teaching contexts. Starting in 2019, she began leading mindfulness Professional Learning for districts looking to better support Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI). She has spoken at local and national conferences including COSEM, WAETAG, SENG, NWAIS, NCTE, and ResearchEd. She firmly believes that the most significant MBI is helping adults learn self-regulation tools: teachers are powerful models.
Connect with Gabrielle!
References & Resources
Dreer B. (2023). On the outcomes of teacher wellbeing: a systematic review of research. Frontiers in psychology, 14, 1205179. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1205179
Educating Mindfully. (2025). Mindfulness-Based Learning Framework. Educating Mindfully. www.EducatingMindfully.org/framework
Godoy, M. (2024). When kindness becomes a habit, it improves our health. NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2024/12/25/nx-s1-5233123/kindness-heart-brain-mental-health
Mayo Clinic Health System. (2023). Helping people, changing lives: 3 health benefits of volunteering. https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/3-health-benefits-of-volunteering
WISE. (2023). Leveraging the evidence on the relationship between teacher and student well-being in learning and teaching. Qatar Foundation. https://www.wise-qatar.org/leveraging-the-evidence-on-the-relationship-between-teacher-and-student-well-being-in-learning-and-teaching/
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