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Self-Care Café Debuts January 20
(Tuesday, January 19, 2021 ) -- Fort Worth ISD’s Restorative Practices program is launching Self-Care Café, Wednesday January 20. The programming offers District stakeholders live Facebook and Zoom events monthly and online self-care resources.
Self-Care Café online programming focuses on four pillars:
- Mental wellbeing
- Physical activity
- Healthy eating
- Knowledge and health literacy
Live 30-minute Self-Care Café sessions hosted via Zoom and simulcast on Facebook Live will challenge participants to practice activities with a focus on the self-care pillars, including meditation, exercise, crafts, healthy eating and journaling discussions. Sessions are monthly at 7:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Participants are encouraged to form accountability partners or tribes to join them in the monthly self-care challenge activities.
Additional self-care resources and other programming offered by the District will be available through a website being built to complement the monthly sessions.
Following months of students attending classes virtually last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it became evident the stressful toll taken on by the District’s teachers and other employees. Self-Care Café offers additional support for the District’s adults, organizers say.
In a recent teaser for Self-Care Café Dr. Nikki Chamblee, Restorative Practices coordinator, likened the importance of self-care to flight attendants who urge passengers put on their own mask before helping other. Taking care of one’s mental, emotional, physical and spiritual wellbeing first is equally as important before helping others, she added.
“Before we even came back, we were concerned about the students and how safely to bring back the students, and their teachers were really suffering,” Dr. Chamblee said. “That’s the common theme that we find as we go out to service schools is that teachers really need to feel taken care of. And so, this has kind of been something we’ve been thinking about how best to put it in place.”
On December 16 Restorative Practices hosted a 15-minute Facebook teaser of what to expect from the Self-Care Café, and just this week, a Facebook Live program focused on self-care’s importance to one’s mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.
“I think the overall hope is that they’ll walk away with new ways and strategies to help take care of themselves but also have some intentionality behind it because we can talk about it all day long,” said Dr. Dorene Benavidez, Equity and Professional Learning executive director. “That’s why we thought it would be great to have the tribe accountability piece where they could [connect with someone.]”
Restorative Practices is an extension of FWISD’s Division of Equity and Excellence. View additional Self-Care Café details on the Restorative Practices and Division of Equity and Excellence Facebook pages.
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