Surviving the Labyrinth

We all know that the demands placed on the teaching profession today are considerable. Between curriculum fulfilment, timetables, marking, and a large range of after school and extra curricula requirements, staff can begin to feel overloaded. Sometimes the most committed, in the determination to do all they can to help, can feel it most of all. The result can be a sense of never having a spare moment, and even ubiquitous cold and flu viruses developing the moment half term or holiday breaks come around. This course is designed to help.

Using the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, we look at how staff can negotiate the labyrinth of their own job demands to achieve a fulfilling and manageable balance in their work and life.

Topics covered include :

• Achieving our goals without building a culture in which we get over-stressed
• Examining the physiological causes and responses to stress
• Gaining awareness around our own individual triggers
• Exercises to promote relaxation

In the great myth, Ariadne brings Theseus a ball of thread with which he can orientate himself in the Labyrinth. The aim here is to develop a tool kit of our own, with which we can overcome the Minotaur of debilitating stress and achieve a more harmonious and sustainable working life.