MENTAL WELLNESS TIPS DURING TIME AT HOME

1. Stick to a routine. Go to sleep and wake up at a reasonable time, write a schedule that is varied and includes time for work as well as self-care.

2. Get out at least once a day. Go for a walk (perhaps before you settle down to work) or open all your windows to get the air flowing at home.

3. Find some time to move each day, again daily for at least thirty minutes. A few youtube ideas have been included in this site. Why not include your children/whānau if this works.

4. Reach out to others, your colleagues and have regular zoom check ins. You may even wish to consider setting up virtual playdates for your children.

5. Stay hydrated and eat well. This one may seem obvious, but stress and eating often don’t mix well, and we find ourselves over-indulging, forgetting to eat, and avoiding food.

6. Develop a self-care toolkit. This can look different for everyone. A lot of successful self-care strategies involve a sensory component (seven senses: touch, taste, sight, hearing, smell, vestibular (movement) and proprioceptive (comforting pressure).

7. Spend extra time connecting with your children if you have them. Children will rarely communicate how they are feeling, but will often make a bid for attention and communication through play.

8. Give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and a wide berth. A lot of cooped up time can bring out the worst in everyone. Each person will have moments when they will not be at their best. It is important to move with grace through blowups, to not show up to every argument you are invited to, and to not hold grudges and continue disagreements. Everyone is doing the best they can to make it through this.

9. Expect behavioral issues with your own children, and respond gently. We are all struggling with disruption in routine, none more than children, who rely on routines constructed by others Expect increased anxiety, worries and fears, nightmares, difficulty separating or sleeping, testing limits, and meltdowns. Do not introduce major behavioral plans or consequences at this time—hold stable and focus on emotional connection.

10. Lower expectations and practice radical self-acceptance. This idea is connected with #12. We are doing too many things in this moment, under fear and stress. This does not make a formula for excellence. accepting everything about yourself, your current situation, and your life without question, blame, or pushback. You cannot fail at this—there is no roadmap, no precedent for this, and we are all truly doing the best we can in an impossible situation.

11. Limit social media, negative news and COVID conversation, especially around children.

12. Notice the good in the world, the helpers. It is important to counter-balance the heavy information with the hopeful information.

13. Help others. Find ways, big and small, to give back to others. (It's what I am doing right now!)

14. Find something you can control, and control the heck out of it. In moments of big uncertainty and overwhelm, control your little corner of the world. It helps to anchor and ground us when the bigger things are chaotic.

15. Engage in repetitive movements and left-right movements. Research has shown that repetitive movement (knitting, coloring, painting, clay sculpting, jump roping etc) especially left-right movement (running, drumming, skating, hopping) can be effective at self-soothing and maintaining self-regulation in moments of distress.

16. “Chunk” your time, take it moment by moment.

17. Remind yourself daily that this is temporary.

Adapted from Eileen Feliciano facebook post who shares a longer meatier version.

Coaching yourself through a crisis with Dr Laurie Santos

A wonderful site for both teachers and parents to dip into.