Aaron and Jeff tackle a topic that hits close to home for educators: stress and how to effectively manage it. They are joined by Dorothy Morelli, a career educator with over 30 years of experience and co-founder of the non-profits CREATE and Bounceback, and Denine Goolsby, an SEL expert with 46 years as an educator, principal, and executive in social-emotional learning. Also joining in is Sandy Williams, PSEA’s wellness facilitator, who highlights wellness resources for members, offering quick techniques to find calm and joy in stressful moments.
Aaron and Jeff tackle a topic that hits close to home for educators: stress and how to effectively manage it. They are joined by Dorothy Morelli, a career educator with over 30 years of experience and co-founder of the non-profits CREATE and Bounceback, and Denine Goolsby, an SEL expert with 46 years as an educator, principal, and executive in social-emotional learning. Also joining in is Sandy Williams, PSEA’s wellness facilitator, who highlights wellness resources for members, offering quick techniques to find calm and joy in stressful moments.
Do you have some feedback for us? Send an email to podcast@psea.org.
Learn more and watch for upcoming episodes at psea.org/podcast.
Voiceover:
Welcome to Duty Free Lunch, the official podcast of the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Join us as we unpack the issues that matter most to you. From cutting-edge classroom strategies to thought-provoking policy discussions, if it impacts PSEA members, it's on the menu.
Aaron Chapin:
Hello and welcome to the award-winning Duty Free Lunch. I'm PSEA President Aaron Chapin, and today I'm here with PSEA Vice President Jeff Ney.
Jeff, how are you doing?
Jeff Ney:
Oh, Aaron, I'm doing fantastic. How are you doing today?
Aaron Chapin:
I don't know. I was really excited.
Jeff Ney:
I know that was a great intro.
Aaron Chapin:
Well, I wasn't with you for the last podcast.
Jeff Ney:
You were kind of missed.
Aaron Chapin:
Oh, I doubt it. But we'll be doing some other podcasts, but it'll just be me down the road, not you. Is that payback? Well, we're going to start off today's episode with some viewer... It's not viewer mail.
Jeff Ney:
It's not viewer mail.
Aaron Chapin:
It's listener mail.
Jeff Ney:
Listener.
Aaron Chapin:
I know. I'm like 55-
Jeff Ney:
Do they want advice?
Aaron Chapin:
... going on 70.
Jeff Ney:
Do they want advice?
Aaron Chapin:
Nope. You ready? I'm not going to tell you who it's from though.
Jeff Ney:
How about where?
Aaron Chapin:
But it's from the western part of Pennsylvania.
Jeff Ney:
Okay.
Aaron Chapin:
Hello, Aaron, Jeff, and Rachel. I binged your award-winning podcast and I want to say thank you for all of your work. It was so interesting to see how similar some of the stories are to my own path into the classroom and into local leadership. They give a suggestion for some topics. Here's a great thing they want to know though. Jeff, I do need some help.
Jeff Ney:
Oh, here we go. Here we go.
Aaron Chapin:
I will need a celebratory dinner after crushing the Steamtown Marathon in October.
Jeff Ney:
Oh, my goodness.
Aaron Chapin:
Do you have any recommendations for the Scranton area? I know it's not Wilkes-Barre, but thought you might be familiar enough to have your own favorite local spot. Now, truth be told, everybody, the Scranton Marathon happened two and a half weeks ago.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah, a little bit late on this one.
Aaron Chapin:
So, hopefully she found somewhere to go eat. But do you have a favorite place to go in the Northeast in Scranton?
Jeff Ney:
Well, listen, I mean, you go to Scranton, there's Cooper Seafood. I mean, how can you go wrong with Cooper Seafood?
Aaron Chapin:
Oh, I forgot all about that one.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah.
Aaron Chapin:
I was going to suggest Thai Thai in Scranton.
Jeff Ney:
Oh, there you go.
Aaron Chapin:
Which is different than Thai Thai in Wilkes-Barre just by about 20 miles.
Jeff Ney:
Yes.
Aaron Chapin:
But it's fantastic. And they have some gluten-free options.
Jeff Ney:
Oh, that's always good.
Aaron Chapin:
Cooper's is a good place though.
Jeff Ney:
But after a marathon, you want something a little bit...
Aaron Chapin:
I'm not sure I want Cooper's after a marathon. The last thing I really want is some seafood running through me.
Jeff Ney:
Gotcha.
Aaron Chapin:
All right. Well, thank you. Thank you for the mail.
Jeff Ney:
Absolutely.
Aaron Chapin:
Sorry it was late, but Rachel was collecting the emails and forgot to deliver it, and that's why she's not here today.
Jeff Ney:
That's why she's not here.
Aaron Chapin:
Well, enough of this knucklehead foolery. Today we're here to talk about stress. Jeff doesn't know about stress.
Jeff Ney:
I know it quite well.
Aaron Chapin:
And we're going to be talking about how to manage it. It's no doubt to most of you listening today that stress is something that you face and it comes obviously working in education. But today we're going to talk about what can you do about it and to help us with that pressing questions, we have a few guests.
We have Dorothy Morelli, who is a career educator with more than 30 years of experience in the field. She is the co-founder of CREATE, a non-profit that provides training, coaching, support, and consultation on implementation of best SEL practices. She's also the founder of BounceBack. It's a digital health platform that delivers wellness-focused professional development to K12 educators. How you doing, Dorothy?
Dorothy Morelli:
Doing great. Thanks for having me.
Aaron Chapin:
You got it. It's great to have you here. We also are joined by Denine Goolsby, who served as an educator for 46 years. No way.
Jeff Ney:
46?
Aaron Chapin:
I know, 46 years. Holy mackerel. She was a teacher, a principal, regional superintendent, principal coach, and the executive director of Social Emotional Learning. And she is a senior advisor of SEL Worldwide. She's a member of CREATE for the Education Board and a senior advisor to BounceBack, and she now leads SEL practices and trains others to lead them. How are you doing, Denine?
Denine Goolsby:
I'm doing great. How are you?
Aaron Chapin:
Well, it is great to have you on our podcast.
Denine Goolsby:
Thank you.
Aaron Chapin:
Yeah, it's been our honor collaborating with Dorothy and Denine and their organization for five years. Their work has brought connection and joy, and that's a true statement, Jeff. Both of them have brought joy to our members in many ways, and Jeff and I have been especially appreciated the fact that we've been able to build connections with our local presidents and native people. I've met members of color for... What? Four years now.
Jeff Ney:
For four years, yeah.
Aaron Chapin:
Four years. Wow.
Jeff Ney:
It is been an absolutely great trip, and having them guide us on those discussions has been invaluable to the board members.
Aaron Chapin:
That's right. Old friends of ours that we brought in for the podcast, and they're not our only guest today. We are full of guests. We're also joined by our resident wellness and mindfulness guru, Sandy Williams. She also facilitates wellness outreach efforts to PSEA members, and she's doing a great job, I might add. Sandy, how you doing?
Sandy Williams:
Thanks, Aaron. I'm doing great. Thanks.
Aaron Chapin:
What's your official title at PSEA? It's very long.
Sandy Williams:
Manager of Executive Office Operations and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Policies and Programs.
Aaron Chapin:
Wow. How do you remember all that? That's a lot. Geez.
Sandy Williams:
I have a flashcard at home.
Aaron Chapin:
I'm just the president.
Jeff Ney:
She looks at it on the door and she comes in the morning when she gets here.
Aaron Chapin:
Wow. It is great to have you here, and you also, along with Dorothy, Denine, you three were really the brain trust of all that we started just coming out of that initial lockdown of COVID. We really appreciate all three of you being here. Enough of this because we've got a lot of questions to get to.
Jeff Ney:
Absolutely.
Aaron Chapin:
We're going to start with Dorothy and Denine. So as I said, you're both educators. You work with educators and districts across the country and actually throughout the world I hear. So you know what stress is like. I'm guessing you have some tips on how educators can feel more resilient, have less stress, and maybe a little bit of joy.
So Dorothy, would you mind answering that for us first?
Dorothy Morelli:
Sure. First of all, before I start, I just want to say thank you to the officers of PSEA because you all have been amazing and the work that you do for all the educators, it's very much appreciated. So now to my tips.
Aaron Chapin:
Oh, thank you.
Dorothy Morelli:
You're welcome. All right, so some tips that I would say, and this is what I've learned over many, many, many years, just giving yourself permission to take a minute. Sometimes we all need a minute, and as educators, we all have so much going on, so many different kinds of stresses. And if you can, even if it's 30 seconds, just giving yourself a minute and giving yourself some grace.
I feel like I've seen so many educators working across Pennsylvania and you all are doing your very best. You're doing all you can do. You do so much for each other and look, do something for yourself if you can and don't feel guilty about it.
I think another one would be setting some boundaries.
Aaron Chapin:
Oh, there you go.
Dorothy Morelli:
And I'm probably not the best at it, but setting some boundaries, like when am I going to turn my phone off at night? When am I shutting down so I can actually focus on being well the next day? And then the joy is huge to me, and I feel like we got to celebrate the small wins or the small victories.
Whether it's a child that hadn't spoken to you in a while and they say hello, whether it's you've met a new colleague, just celebrating those small victories and enjoying that part of it because we all got into education because we wanted to help others. So those are mine.
Aaron Chapin:
That's good advice. What about you, Denine? Do you have some advice?
Denine Goolsby:
My advice rests with self-awareness and knowing the things that stress us out. What are the things that bring you angst? If you think back at the time when you were stressed, what was it that caused that?
The other thing you should pay attention to is how did you feel physically and emotionally at that time? What happened inside your body to let you know that you were approaching a point of being stressed beyond return? Was your heart palpitating? Were you sweating? Were you upset? Were you screaming? What was happening when you were feeling stressed? And once you identify those things and you start to feel those things within yourself, you can actually start doing things like the three deep breaths to calm yourself down. You can focus or visualize on something that brings you joy. Some of the things that you could do happen when you stop yourself, when you feel the feelings coming on.
Another way to handle that when you're overwhelmed, this is one that I use all the time, is making a list of the expected actions that I have to perform and then I prioritize them. Now when you have a list, you don't always get to everything on that list, so give yourself some grace. If you don't get to it on that day, create a new list for the next day and prioritize those things maybe toward the top so you finish them first. But it's all about being self-aware, how you feel when you're stressed, and how you come back to restore yourself from that.
Jeff Ney:
Wow, just-
Denine Goolsby:
Those are my tips.
Jeff Ney:
Just the first question, you're going to understand why these two ladies are so important to our Thoughtful Thursdays and guiding some of that retrospective to some of our members. Now, a lot of times people feel that stress during the course of the day, and obviously both of you hit on it that everybody's got so many things happening during the course of the day.
So without adding to their already large to-do lists, what are some ways you think that educators can work some mindfulness practices into their days when they have kids in front of them? Dorothy, how about you go first on this one.
Dorothy Morelli:
Absolutely. So for me, it's even before you enter the building. Sometimes it's hard to put that blinker around to turn into the school parking lot because the stress is already beginning. So I like to try and take just a minute or so, whether it's the three deep breaths, whether it's counting to 10, whether it's thinking about something I'm going to try and do that day just to center myself before I go into the building.
And I think if we all do that, it's so helpful just before I even enter the workspace. And I also feel like Denine touched on a little bit, visualization. What do I want this day to be like? I know athletes do this when there's stressful times during a ballgame, but I think our educators, we have to do this as well. I do it frequently.
And then one last thing, the transition between school and home. It's so hard to leave things behind sometimes, just leave it at school. And I think it's easier said than done, but that's again, talking about those boundaries we talked about. But also maybe it's taking a pause in your driveway or maybe you're going to think about something you're looking forward to that night-
Jeff Ney:
Denine-
Dorothy Morelli:
... even if it's just getting ready to go to sleep. And then the last one I was thinking about, I do this personally, listen to some music because I think music can be a mood changer and that is a practice. Movement is a practice like breathing is or mindfulness. So those are some of the things that I do personally, and I think we're all different and we have to find what works for us. But I'm sure Denine has some other suggestions as well.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah, I could imagine. That's quite a list. Denine, do you have anything else that you want to add to that list?
Denine Goolsby:
I have a couple of things that I can add. I start my day, I'm not a morning person, so me getting up in the morning is always an experience. So I have to actually look at myself in the mirror and set an intention for my day, what are the things that I want to accomplish? And sometimes I'll put a number on it. I'll say, "What are the three things that I want to accomplish today?" And then I set out and I aim to accomplish those things so I have some direction for my day as far as the main things I want to do.
And then anything else that comes, that's gravy for me. Another thing that I do is I put time in my schedule for relaxation. If I have a lot going on, I'll put in my calendar, okay, I'm going to do this. I'm going to sit, I'm going to... Maybe I'll bake a cake, that's therapeutic for me. Maybe I'll go and see some friends, that's something I enjoy. I build in relaxation into my calendar to make sure that I am addressing that and making that happen.
Again, it's being intentional about how you're going to use your time and what you're going to not do to yourself, like feeling guilty that you didn't get this done. Oh, I have so much left. Put it down, put it in order, and address it as you can. That also limits the amount of stress that you find yourself facing.
Jeff Ney:
Fantastic. Now, Sandy, I mean, you deal with our headquarters quite a bit and there's a lot of stress around here. What kind of mindfulness practice-
Aaron Chapin:
No.
Jeff Ney:
Well, working with you, I mean...
Aaron Chapin:
Oh yeah, you're right.
Jeff Ney:
Sandy, what could you offer our listeners?
Sandy Williams:
Well, I've had the honor of talking to a lot of our members about social emotional learning and how they implement it in their classrooms and how they then can think about turning that into their own personal experience. And some of them have shared that sometimes in the classroom they might stop and take that deep breath or pause and say, "I'm feeling angry," or, "Hey, I'm really excited about this," or, "Name that emotion," which is I think part of the social emotional learning that we want to teach our students and modeling it for them in the moment when maybe they're feeling a large emotion is teaching them. And it also gives them that pause between the stress and the response to ground themselves. So I think that works for everyone.
Jeff Ney:
So Sandy, I'm going to stick with you because since 2019, PSEA has been developing programs to prioritize the well-being for our members. So we were just talking about things that they could do during the day, but there's got to be some resources that our members can lean on. What are some of the resources that PSEA does offer?
Sandy Williams:
Oh, thanks Jeff. I'm so glad you asked.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah.
Sandy Williams:
We have an amazing website that we've put together resources from lots of different places, including Dorothy and Denine and the program that they work with, cultivating awareness and resilience for educators. And that website is PSEA.org/wellbeing.
And on that website you'll find two journals that we've created for PSEA members. One with prompts on taking care of yourself and one with prompts on creating a culture of belonging in our world. You'll also find some audio practices and some video practices that are available to our members anytime they want to access them.
Aaron Chapin:
We've done a lot of stuff over the last five years. We have. And I know especially during COVID, when we were all locked away and coming back into the stressful workplaces, especially our board of directors, they were demanding and they really wanted resources to be there for our members.
And I know Sandy, whenever she gets an opportunity, she's at our statewide events, she's got a table set up. What's some of the things you have at your table?
Sandy Williams:
Oh, thanks. We have journals. Those two journals that we created, we have them to hand out as well as some affirmation cards for members to maybe have a little message for themselves or something that they can pass on to other members. And we usually have some healthy snacks and maybe some fidget toys because play is for adults too.
Jeff Ney:
And for those members who go to Gettysburg, always look for Sandy. She usually has a little tent set up right outside the cafeteria.
Aaron Chapin:
She's got a bubble machine.
Jeff Ney:
She does!
Aaron Chapin:
Yeah. She has a good... And our members love stopping by the tent and see her.
Jeff Ney:
Again, it's that energy that everybody brings to this topic.
Aaron Chapin:
That's right. Well, Denine, so some of your friends and colleagues have been commenting about you. Maybe your ears have been burning, but they say that listening to your voice feels calming. How do you do that? Because when people listen to me, they get agitated. So-
Jeff Ney:
It's not the sound.
Aaron Chapin:
It's not the sound.
Jeff Ney:
It's not the sound.
Aaron Chapin:
Oh.
Jeff Ney:
It may be the words.
Aaron Chapin:
Oh. Well, let's hear from Denine. How do you do it? And is it something that educators can actually develop?
Sandy Williams:
I actually developed it. The deepness of my voice, I get from my mother, but I actually developed a mechanism to remain calm in situations when others would not. So instead of going to the high range of things, I immediately lower my tone and I talk very calmly and very succinctly to people.
And I don't know, it helps when people are going crazy and things are nuts, that low, quiet, calm tone, it helps calm things down because people are trying to listen to you. When you're high and yelling and your voice is a little higher, you keep the voices in the room higher. When you go down low, then they have to work to hear you and then it brings them down. So that is something that I developed as a middle school principal because I would find myself in the cafeteria sometimes and having to say something to students and I would raise my hand to get some semblance of quiet, and then I would talk very low to make sure that they were listening to me. And that's how I developed that. That was the space where I developed that.
Jeff Ney:
And if you can calm people down in a cafeteria, that is absolutely impressive.
Sandy Williams:
Yeah, it works when they know what to listen for. But of course you have to teach them how to look for that and what your expectations are. But in any situation, when you're talking very low, people are straining to hear you and it makes them quiet down.
Aaron Chapin:
All right, so Jeff-
Sandy Williams:
And it works, basically wherever I am.
Aaron Chapin:
... the next time your wife is yelling at you, just go, "Molly, Molly, Molly."
Sandy Williams:
Right.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah, something tells me that's not really going to work all that well.
Aaron Chapin:
Try it.
Jeff Ney:
Okay, I'll give it a shot.
Aaron Chapin:
She doesn't listen to this, does she? You got this.
Jeff Ney:
So Dorothy this question's for you. I know there's a ton of research out there on your nonprofit that has dove into how mindfulness-based stress reduction impacts educators and specifically their students. We don't have a lot of time left. Could you encapsulate a little bit about what that research has told us?
Dorothy Morelli:
Sure. So you're right, there has been so much research and most of these are large randomized control studies, but I'll point out a couple of things.
There has been an improvement in wellbeing for educators through these programs. And one, we've been talking about social-emotional learning, it's improved emotional regulation for our educators, us being able to stop and calm down, and like Denine said, to model. So I think that's been a huge one. It's increased productivity. Another one is more compassion for yourself and others. And I know as educators sometimes we give others compassion and not always ourselves. And I think that's vitally important. And then maybe one last one. It's the impact on the classroom. It's been proven that the relationship between the educator and the well-being and classroom quality has all been related. We know this. When educators are well, we do better. I think it's common sense, but it's all been proven as well. And I don't think I'd be telling my wife, calling her name, in a low voice. That's not research, that's just Dorothy saying.
Aaron Chapin:
I'm going to try it out.
Jeff Ney:
You're going to try it out?
Aaron Chapin:
I'm going to try it out. I'll let all the listeners know next podcast.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah, good luck with that.
Aaron Chapin:
All right. Hey Jeff, guess what?
Jeff Ney:
Is it pop quiz time already?
Aaron Chapin:
Pop quiz time. Pop quiz time. Everybody, you got to make it fast.
Jeff Ney:
Got to make it fast. Okay, so this question is going to be for everybody. Sandy, I'm going to come to you first. You're feeling anxious, overwhelmed, stressed out, and you need to calm down and center yourself very quickly. What's your go-to technique that never fails?
Sandy Williams:
Feel my feet on the ground and take a big deep breath.
Jeff Ney:
Wow. That's great. Dorothy, how about you? What's your go-to?
Dorothy Morelli:
Close my eyes and take three deep breaths/
Jeff Ney:
And Denine, how about you?
Dorothy Morelli:
And then open my eyes after.
Jeff Ney:
And Denine, how about you?
Denine Goolsby:
Mine is also the three deep breaths. Mine is also the three deep breaths. It really works. It really does. It focuses you and it helps you bring yourself down. So that is my go-to.
Jeff Ney:
Considering we got that from just about everybody.
Aaron Chapin:
It must be true.
Jeff Ney:
It must be true.
Aaron Chapin:
I use the deep breaths as well.
Jeff Ney:
That's very good.
Aaron Chapin:
Well, and truth be told to everybody that's listening, we started really working this into what we do four years ago. And Jeff and I, in the beginning were part of the sessions that we were doing for local presidents. Now Rachel is joining us, these Thoughtful Thursdays for local presidents, but also for native people, people of color, like we've been doing this, these sessions work.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah. As much as Aaron and Rachel and I seem to be having a really good time doing the job that we do, it's very stressful. And there's got to be some techniques, even you at the local or regional level that need to put in there every single time. And we do the same thing. We have to take a little bit of time out for ourselves. Or in those cases where you have to have that go-to technique. You got to have it.
Aaron Chapin:
And honestly, after the first year being state president, I realized there's things I needed to do, some self-care. I was thinking about as we were hearing today, some of the physical things that were going on. And I'm trying. I'm trying because we can't burn ourselves out. We've got to take care of ourselves.
Jeff Ney:
No. And again, we have to be that model for our students and for the other people that are in our locals and regions to make sure that they lean on as well.
Aaron Chapin:
Well, we've gone over today and we could have done a double show on this one.
Jeff Ney:
We could have.
Aaron Chapin:
Just with Sandy here alone.
Jeff Ney:
Maybe we can bring her back.
Aaron Chapin:
Well, she's got to be in the office to do it.
Jeff Ney:
Okay. All right.
Aaron Chapin:
Deep breath, Sandy.
Sandy Williams:
Feet on the ground.
Aaron Chapin:
Yes. Well, unfortunately that does it for time. We are so over time. But our guests today have been Dorothy Morelli, Denine Goolsby, and Sandy Williams. Thanks to the three of you for everything you've done for our PSEA members. I know we've had a good time today, but our members have been so much better off with the efforts that you've done for us. So thank you Dorothy very much.
Dorothy Morelli:
You are welcome and thanks for all you do.
Aaron Chapin:
Oh, well, it's a little bit, but it's been an honor working with you and same with you, Denine. It's been an absolute pleasure.
Denine Goolsby:
Thank you.
Aaron Chapin:
Yeah. And thank you for being on this podcast. And Sandy, all joking aside, we love you to death. Thanks for being in here today.
Sandy Williams:
Thank you. It's a highlight of my career to work with this team.
Aaron Chapin:
The highlight? Wow. And she worked-
Sandy Williams:
A highlight.
Aaron Chapin:
... with Senator Casey.
Jeff Ney:
You should say, because there are other past officers that listen to this.
Sandy Williams:
I said a highlight.
Jeff Ney:
Not the first you [inaudible 00:25:05].
Aaron Chapin:
Wow.
Jeff Ney:
We're going to hold that one. Comms will take care of that for us.
Aaron Chapin:
Oh, no, it's not. Anyway, seriously, thank you for the three of you, for everything you've done and continue to do for our members and their mental health. You just completely invaluable resources. And thanks for all of our listeners for tuning in today. Have some feedback for us. Got some questions, comments, maybe want advice from Rachel who's not here today.
Jeff Ney:
Yeah, she gives good advice.
Aaron Chapin:
She tries to give good advice. You got to share it by sending an email to podcast@psea.org. See there's a low voice. I'm Aaron Chapin. And I'm Jeff Ney. And you have been listening to Duty Free Lunch. Bye for now.
Voiceover:
You've been listening to Duty Free Lunch with the Pennsylvania State Education Association. Visit PSEA.org/podcast to learn more and don't forget to subscribe and share. Paid for by the Pennsylvania State Education Association.