It is happening. The grand experiment of full school distance learning is on for teachers and families of California. Educators have been asked to source some sort of magic to heal the disease of a broken educational system as it crumbles under the pressures of inconsistent and insufficient funding, tremendous variance in school community capacity for distance learning, and countless organizational structures being taxed to their limits. The pandemic continues, job losses increase, and fires across the state bring the smell of smoke, triggering memories of past tragedies. And, despite all this, the teachers, our community heroes, show up for the children in ways they can.
I appreciate that the state, within the required response to the Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan due September 30, highlights the awareness that mental health is an essential consideration for school communities. I additionally appreciate that within the Stronger Together: Guidebook for safe restart of CA schools, questions and suggestions are listed for educators to consider regarding mental health. This begs the next question, “How? With what time and money?”
Unfortunately, there is no dedicated or supplementary funding support for an already thin layer of mental and behavioral services for students, AND, very little or 'no' formal support for educators themselves. Period.
The capacity for teachers and educators to sustain their level of care and support of others remains unknown. Early onset of compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma feels imminent with teachers I know already asking themselves, “Can I do this?”
The answer rests in our ability to source our collective resilience, and we are all being called to be ‘caring, buffering, and nurturing relationships’ for each other at every opportunity. I am proud to be part of a company that is approaching an age old problem in a new, generative, and collaborative way. We pride ourselves on modeling and showing a new way forward, together.
Our approach, We Are Resilient™for Educators, highlights adult wellness and was started before 2020, yet seems to be more relevant and called for during 2020. Living out our vision of creating a world of kind, connected human beings, we offer services and support for free as an open educational resource. We want you to use and apply our work to help heal and be resilient during this unprecedented time. For free downloads, you can go to our educator page here.
Currently, you can register for our General Resilience Circle, Men’s Resilience Circle, or Parent/Caregiver Circle on our website circle registration page, and to learn what a Resilience Circle is check out this video. . . again, for free 
Personally, as a father of three children (grades 5, 1, and Kinder), my admiration and appreciation for educators has grown exponentially, and I feel even more inspired and dedicated to my professional goals of bringing hope and healing to all of us through all of us.
Much love and peace,
Bryan
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