6 Summary of Week 8
This week you have learned the importance of self-care in order to keep you mentally healthy and have utilised a reflective journal to review your own wellbeing. You have explored personal stressors, learned how to identify ‘burnout’, and developed knowledge of how, where and when to seek professional support. The importance of professional boundary setting has been considered. Finally, you have been introduced to, and explored, a range of self-care activities including mindfulness and self-compassion. This learning should equip you with the knowledge and skills to promote your own wellbeing and achieve good levels of mental health.
The main learning points for this week are:
- Reducing and tackling stress enables both improved physical and mental health and helps prevent burnout.
- Establishing and maintaining professional boundaries supports your mental health.
- Protecting time for yourself and prioritising your own wellbeing and mental health with self-care strategies can assist you in your role as an educator.
- Self-care is essential to maintain positive wellbeing and good levels of mental health, and techniques of self-compassion and mindfulness are effective self-help strategies.
- Positive actions to achieve good diet, nutrition and hydration are effective self-care activities. Similarly, engaging in exercise and physical activity, ensuring good sleep hygiene to improve sleep quality and incorporating cognitive and social stimulation promote good levels of wellbeing. Finding time for yourself is also an important self-care strategy.