Session 3: Renew, Refresh, Reimagine: Spring Forward in Special Education

Hello everyone, I'm Natalie Horstman, the Director of Speech and Language Pathology here at Parallel. I'm relatively new to Parallel, so I wanted to give a little background on myself before we get started. Thank you for joining us today. I've been an SLP since 2013 and have worked both in education and healthcare settings. I currently reside in Texas, but I've worked in the Northeast for the past 6 years, including New York, Connecticut, and Vermont. I'm so excited to be here at Parallel, where I not only get to work with top-notch clinicians like our speaker today, but I also get to learn from and collaborate with coworkers with backgrounds outside of the clinical space, which is new for me. So thanks again for being here today and spending the next hour with us. At Parallel, we take pride in nurturing our professional community as well as the broader community community by offering innovative, high-quality programming for clinicians and educators alike. We have a few housekeeping items before we start, so first and foremost, I want to sincerely thank each and every one of you for the incredible work you do as providers. You are at the forefront making a meaningful difference in the lives of students each and every day, so thank you so much. This course is offered for 0.1 ASHA CEUs and 1 NASP-approved CPD credit. If you wish to have us report CEUs to ASHA or receive NASP CPD credit and/or receive a certificate of completion, please be sure to do the following: attend the entire webinar. Attendance will be tracked through Zoom reports. Be sure to join with the email address attached to your registration, and no partial credit will be awarded if you log off early, so please stay for the entire webinar. Complete and submit a self-assessment evaluation within 3 business days, and for ASHA CEUs, be sure to indicate that you want to receive ASHA CEUs and provide your ASHA ID number in the post-webinar survey that you will receive following this webinar, probably around Monday. So just be looking for that. We love and encourage questions from our participants, and if you have any questions, Please feel free to drop them in the Q&A. We'll have a Q&A time at the end of the webinar to discuss. You'll have the option to stay on for a few extra minutes to hear a little bit more about Parallel and how we are supporting districts across the US and hear a little bit about our provider positions as well. So I am so excited to introduce Miranda Wilson. She is one of our Amazing school psychologists here at Parallel. I'm going to give you a little bit of background on Miranda before she starts. So she has been a school psychologist for over 15 years. She previously served on the— is it West Virginia, Miranda?

Yeah.

I've asked you this before. Um, the West Virginia School Psychologists Association Board as GPR and region representative. Very cool. She's currently an executive board member of the Ohio School Psychologists Association as PR co-chair. She serves as a member of Ohio's AI and teletherapy task force. She's an active member of the community, serving as the PTA president as well as vice president of the local soccer league. She and her husband, who is also a school psychologist, stay busy raising their 8 and 12-year-old children, and she is also completing a dissertation on— oh my gosh. Will you help me out here? Trauma cognate. Um, maybe she can speak a little bit more about that on SLD identification and trauma. I'm a— I'm an SLP, so I'm a little bit out of my wheelhouse. Anyway, without further ado, I would love to have Miranda take it away.

Okay, everyone. Um, I'm going to talk about the disclosures first, um, that I do work for Parallel. So I will receive an honorarium for this presentation. Non-financially, I am a member of NASP, and I'm also on the board, like she said, for Ohio School Psychologists Association. I do want to pause and say that allergies are not my friend right now. So if I stop and take a drink or 2, I hope that's good with everybody. It's just, you know, something I need a little bit right now. All right. So the learning objectives that we have for today. By the end of this presentation, I want everyone to be able to explain the difference between the 2 different types of trauma, which are secondary trauma and vicarious trauma, and their impact on our well-being. To be able to identify the importance of Maslow. I know we've all heard of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and within how it relates to Bloom's taxonomy. And the last one is kind of a little fun one. I'm very crafty. So I wanted to do something more hands-on that we could all kind of enjoy. You don't have to do it, but if you have paper and craft items available to you, you can start it, finish it later. But just something that I was even working on, and it just to make that plan for our career and your life. It's a personal plan for eudaimonia, and saying that word is very difficult for me. Once I figured out what it was, I was, I was kind of shocked that it's hard for me to say because I never had heard it before. All right. So here is our agenda. Turn this. All right. So the— we're gonna talk about burnout, which I know we probably talked about that a lot. You've heard it everywhere. Eudaimonia as well. Of course, the secondary trauma and vicarious trauma, Maslow and Bloom. We're gonna create the plan and then have some Q&A. All right. So the first thing we want to do our first poll. So we could launch that first poll, please. We're gonna talk about what eudaimonia is. Is it several different things? Is it something you use to clean the house with? Is it a leading cause of burnout? The opposite of burnout, or is it a word that you've never heard of until today? So I'll let everybody take a minute and figure out.

They're coming in, Miranda.

Okay, good. I think it says I can't vote, so. I don't want to see the answers. Okay, give you guys a couple more seconds to put your answers in. Alright, let's see what everyone thinks. Excellent! I wasn't alone. Thank goodness. To me, it sounded like ammonia. That's why I put something I used to clean the house with. I don't know. Not that I clean the house with ammonia, but it's in like Pine-Sol. The next thing, leading cause of burnout, the opposite of burnout, or something you hadn't heard of until today. So a lot of you, 70%, really think it's something you haven't heard of today. And that's, again, we're not alone in that. So it is the opposite of burnout, and we'll get more into that here soon. All right. Bear with me. My first real presentation like this. All right, so on our next slide here, we want to talk a little bit about burnout. That is an actual picture of me on the side there with the white flag waving at this time of year, and that's really how I feel right now. But it's excessive exhaustion caused by you know prolonged work-related stress. So excessive work, excessive stress. It does have a metaphoric meaning, which basically you have to be burning for something. So having like that burning passion in order to burn out, you just can't burn out for something that isn't, you know, something that you're not in love with. Put it that way. And for most of us that are in this field, we didn't do it for the money. We did it because it's something we love. So, you know, the— if you didn't originally love your job, then I can't see How you could burn out from it. Alright, give me just a moment.

Alright.

It's not technically in the DSM yet, but it is recognized by the World Health Organization, burnout. So that's pretty interesting, and maybe eventually it will be in there. It does specifically refer to a phenomenon in occupational context, and it shouldn't be really applied to describe other things of life. So you can't really say I'm burnt out from— well, I wish I could say I'm burnt out from doing the laundry, how I feel about that. But it's really— I don't have a passion for the laundry, so I'm not really burnt out from it. All right. There are 3 dimensions of it as well. And that the person that kind of first examined burnout, her name was Christina Maslach. I hope I'm pronouncing that right. But back in like the '70s and '80s, She said it's emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, cynicism, and something that was defined as feelings of being overextended and depleted of your own emotional resources. And I have a feeling a lot of us do feel that these days with the shortages and everything like that. Another thing was she had said that employees' emotional resources were depleted. They felt like they were no longer able to give themselves at a psychological level. The development of negative, cynical attitudes and feelings about your clients was pervasive. So if you're working with students, whomever, and the tendency to evaluate yourself was also very negative. Those who were burned out felt very unhappy about themselves, dissatisfied with their accomplishments on the job when they were burned out. And we definitely— that's not a place we want to be. All right, just told you I need a lot of drinks today. All right. So burnout and mental health providers. So what is the link there? It has been linked to secondary traumatic stress as a part of compassion fatigue. And I'll talk about that too in a minute. Burnout is more related to a specific employer or a company versus not necessarily Again, let me describe that better. I have a much better way to say that. And compassion fatigue could result in leaving the profession altogether, and we don't want that. That is the last thing we want right now, especially like I said, with all the shortages. So burnout is just being exhausted of the situations at that particular place, like a specific school or district. It's not necessarily the field in general, because I can't say that I am really, you know, sick of school psychology. I love school psychology. I'm sick of the position I'm in. I'm not. I'm with Parallel and I love it. But that is one thing that people could say is, I'm, you know, I'm at a district where I'm spread too thin. I don't enjoy it. I don't appreciate the administration, how they're handling things, that sort of thing. So compassion fatigue is secondary trauma or vicarious trauma. And they are— those 2 things do contribute to compassion fatigue. It's something that will definitely impact your mental health and overall well-being. Okay, so what does burnout look like for you? What does it mean for you? There is a lot on these slides. I absolutely know that, and I thought about taking them and, you know, making them smaller. But really, burnout's a big deal, and there's a lot of issues that can cause it. And I wanna know, just think to yourself, what does it really look like for you? So think about like the first time you were offered a certain position, the one that you had really strived for, you'd wanted all your life, the one that you dedicated many years of your life to doing the education, to training for. You wanted to pursue your dreams in that. So think about that moment. Think about how good it felt to get that job, or, you know, close to the job that you really, really want. Now kind of sit back and think, how do you feel right now? If you, you know, had landed that job, how are you feeling about it? Are you still in that job? Are you burned out about it? Do you feel now the same way you do now as you originally started? Maybe it's still everything you dreamed of and more, and if it is, that's great. But if it's not, you know, what, what is making you feel down because of the burnout? So, you know, examples on the screen there talking about heavy workloads. I know we all have those. We have huge caseloads sometimes. Time constraints. I know that time is very valuable right now, and there isn't a lot of it in the day. The family work-life balance, to me, that is huge. I do a lot outside of work. I don't come home and just, you know, kind of hang out. There's a million things to do. So having so much work Is very difficult when you have everything else to do at night. Deadlines—I'm sure none of us have deadlines. I mean, you know, we all do, and those can be come up very quickly. Paperwork, especially if you're in Ohio, where I work as well. There is excessive paperwork, administrative work. Some people have to do that, and you know, in addition to their normal job meetings, we have meetings every day. I mean, there's. Meetings, meetings, meetings. Unfunded mandates is a huge one. Not having any prep time. Of course, the safety issues, emotional demands. You don't feel valued. The students that can be very challenging. We have a lot of behaviors, and it's just gotten more intense over the years. Parents or caregivers that are dissatisfied with, you know, what you do, or just in general, you know, the education that, you know, the school, what have you. Limited support from your administration, or even from your colleagues, or, you know, other staff in the building. Lack of collaboration, low pay. That's a big one, because when you're like I said, none of us are doing this for the money, but the money does help. Working alone, you know, being on that little island by yourself. I know the districts I've worked in when I was in brick and mortar, it would be me and maybe a few other people. But we'd be so spread out that we really didn't collaborate a lot. And then when we— I had another district at one time, it was just me. I was the only psych, but I could at least, you know, call my husband, and we could, you know, definitely hash some things out. But I know working alone is hard, and then doing the job of several people. We all know how that is. We do that a lot. Oops, give me one second. Alright. So I also wanted to kind of talk about what does it look like, you know, to you? What does burnout— like, how do you show it if you're at work? And you, do you just walk around sad, upset? Do you kind of hide in the closet? Maybe you're having to work with a student in a closet, because we all know there's not a lot of spaces in there either. So, you know, what does it really look like? Some people truly have happy faces. I know I was one of them. I would walk around and just pretend everything was great when I knew deep inside I was not doing okay. Burnout's also linked to the imposter phenomenon. We know, have heard of the imposter syndrome. You know, it's something that refers to a psychological construct wherein an individual consistently holds the belief that their accomplishments and competence are not a result of their own personal effort, skill, and talent, but due to some things like luck or even error. So, you know, I kind of feel like that a lot. So everything I do, is it just luck? Is it just luck of the draw, or did I truly work really hard for it and people like what I did? So again, burnout can look a lot of different ways. So don't think that you have to look a certain way or feel a certain way because it can be different for everybody. So what is the opposite of burnout? It is eudaimonia. All right, give me just a second. So it is pronounced eudaimonia. I had to put that in here too so I could remember how to say it. I even had it written on a piece of paper next to my computer for about a month so I could say it every day and say it the right way. It is defined as well-being in a life of activity governed by reason. So having that purposeful life, okay, it was Aristotle's word for human flourishing. It was something that, you know, so it's possible to be empathetic and burned out. Absolutely. When one takes on, you know, the suffering of others without clearly recognizing the difference between yourself and others, and to be both resilient and burned out, which is basically the walking wounded, and a lot of us might be doing that these days. But then we think maybe the goal should actually be eudaimonia. See, I did it again. It's Aristotle's word, like I said, for human flourishing. He considered that eudaimonia a moral virtue and a pinnacle of human achievement. And why? Because it frees us to work more effectively and effortlessly for the good of others. So think again right now. And how this relates to not just job satisfaction, but also like internal feelings. So it's not truly the word happiness. From all my research, it always said that eudaimonia wasn't happiness. It's more or less finding that sense of purpose. So it is something that comes from within rather than being driven by external factors. So with that said, it kind of makes you think if you're at somewhere you're working and you don't have that sense of belonging, that sense of that you love your job where you're at, then you wouldn't have this. And that's— no, it's driven by what comes from within, not from the outside. It embodies practical wisdom. It stems from good indwelling spirit. And as a clinician, I absolutely think that this concept resonates with me because it reflects a deep sense of engagement, coherence, and alignment between my work and my core values. All right. So it's while also ensuring that others are treated with competence, compassion, and kindness. Furthermore, I do believe that the actions that enhance this are not just directed towards others, but also involve cultivating positive attitudes and actions towards yourself. And that will lead us into our last activity when we get there. Okay, another time for a drink. All right, so a little bit more about eudaimonia and how it's distinct and different from a different word. I believe it's hedonia. So with that, hedonia is a different kind of feeling. It's one that, um, it consists of more experiences related to moment-to-moment pleasure. So, you know, enjoyment, satisfaction, comfort, stuff that's instant, if you will. You know, eudaimonic experiences are not about feeling positive per se, but they're more about flourishing and being fully functioning and reaching your full potential. Again, so it's not really that happiness. It does impact you long-term, and it's definitely something that If you don't have that passion and you don't have that drive, you don't have that fulfillment, it can absolutely impact you long term. So for instance, you know, being exposed to a negative event might induce negative emotions, but at the same time, it could be transformative on your psyche. So, you know, knowing that just because it's bad right now doesn't mean that it's not gonna be better later, and that you can still progress and reach that full potential. So another example wanted to kind of bring out is, you know, going through a difficult event may bring negative emotions, like I said, but it could also really bring that personal growth, that deeper understanding, and help you develop your sense of purpose. And unlike simply feeling good, these experiences, you know, contribute to that long-term fulfillment. Example there is Going through a difficult time also can make you see, be truly seen, and who you are. You can see who you are and what you want and what you need. All right. So what can hinder eudaimonia? So some things that I found were secondary and vicarious trauma are 2 areas that professionals usually, it happens to them a lot. They absorb the stress, the pain, the trauma of those they serve. And while they are similar, they do have differences. So let's talk about those differences. So with secondary trauma, you've also could see it called STS for syndrome. It is in the DSM. It's under PTSD, the post-traumatic stress. And basically it's the traumatic events that are in Criterion A of PTSD. They all involve actual or threatened death, serious injury, sexual violence in some way, but they do differ in how the individual is exposed to them. Okay, so which could be through directly experiencing the traumatic event, or witnessing in person the event as it occurred to others, or learning that the event occurred to somebody else like a family member, a close friend, or indirect exposure in the course of occupational duties. So work. Counseling, speech therapy, you're sitting there, you're working on something with a student, and they just start telling you about what happened the other day, or a traumatic experience they went through, and you hear that and you take it on. That is secondary trauma. Okay, so it's that, that one experience. It is the emotional duress that results from hearing about another one's personal firsthand trauma. Symptoms can really mimic PTSD. some things like hypervigilance, intrusive thoughts, emotional exhaustion, and difficulty sleeping. STS does often develop suddenly after repeated exposure to a student trauma. On the other hand, there's vicarious trauma. So it's unlike secondary, it's not acute. That's what secondary trauma is. It's more that long-term impact of repeated exposure over and over and over. So vicarious trauma can develop when a practitioner or professional is exposed to the retelling of a traumatic event by, by a client, it's much like the experience of a direct trauma. It just may affect a practitioner's worldview and primary belief system and affect your cognitions, your emotional needs. They could— those symptoms can mirror those who have direct trauma exposure, such as disturbances in mood, self-identity, spirituality, cognitive frame of reference, as well as intrusive Symptoms. So basically, vicarious trauma, it's a more gradual process that occurs when continuous exposure to traumatic stories alter a professional's worldview, leading to cynicism, emotional numbing, or a shift in personal beliefs about safety, trust, or justice. Unlike STS, vicarious trauma is more cumulative. It's more long-term. So I want you to kind of take a minute too and think, you know, are you experiencing either of these? Through work, and are either of these maybe leading to burnout? Definitely something you could think about there. I can absolutely think of several instances as well that have, you know, because we listen to stories every day. We sit with students and we listen, and we know what they're going through, and we tell ourselves to leave it at the door, and it's, it's hard because why? We have passion. And we care. So school-based professionals and practitioners are definitely at risk for these, and I'll kind of talk about why we're at risk, because we work with those students. They face abuse, neglect, violence, poverty, grief, family instability. Constantly absorbing these stories can take that emotional toll. We have high emotional investment. Educators, mental health professionals are naturally empathetic. Making us more susceptible to internalizing these, their pain. This can lead back to where we talked previously, you know, how in order that burnout— to be burnout, you have to be feeling brightly lit and passionate. So that makes sense there. We do have a lot of sometimes limited supports and resources right now. You know, schools are underfunded, understaffed. They leave professionals with high caseloads and little time for self-care or processing difficult cases. We're all aware of the financial crisis that most schools are facing too, especially these days. The amount of cuts to programs and staff is alarming. Another thing I'll talk about is that school psychology shortage. It does weigh heavily because, you know, there are not a lot of us out there. Workplace culture and stigma. Definitely more professionals feel pressure to just push through their emotions. Absolutely not. I do not, you know, feel that that is a good thing to do. Leading— that leads us to compassion fatigue and burnout. So seeking support can absolutely be something that you need to do, even though, you know, sometimes it's viewed as a sign of weakness. So it should be viewed as self-preservation. It's taking care of yourself. This one, you know, does really haunt me. So as much as we push to help the world see that emotions are okay, There's still that wall that we haven't truly torn down yet, but we're getting there. It's definitely made huge leaps and bounds since I started with this journey. So what is the connection between all of this stuff we just talked about? The burnout, eudaimonia, vicarious trauma, secondary trauma. What's the connection? One moment again.

Okay.

So we do know that burnout, secondary trauma, and vicarious trauma, they can all hinder eudaimonia, and they can all impact the hierarchy of needs. Okay, so we'll go into that too in a moment. So how they intersect. While burnout, secondary trauma, and vicarious are different, they do coexist. They can reinforce one another. not necessarily in a good way. Examples in a school setting, you know, is somebody who works with students that have suffered abuse. That leads to secondary trauma. Over time, hearing those stories affect their beliefs, really affects their safety. That's vicarious trauma because it's more long-term. And the high emotional demands and workload from being overwhelmed leads to burnout. So the cycle really is, you know, there's secondary trauma, And those— that triggers emotional distress. There's vicarious trauma. Over time, it just shifts your worldview and your emotional state. And burnout is that prolonged stress and emotional exhaustion. So together, those factors do impact mental health, job satisfaction, and effectiveness, making it crucial to recognize, prevent, and address them. And now it's time to take another poll. So we're gonna launch another poll. And it says, in my role as a provider practitioner, I currently feel which of the following? Are you energized and engaged? You're managing, but you're fatigued. Are you struggling and just overwhelmed? Or are you burned out and disengaged? So take a minute, kind of see where you think you're at. Right now, and maybe you even want to think about where you have been prior. Hopefully things are better now. But where were you? Where are you right now? All right. Give you guys just a few more minutes, and we'll see the results. All right. So we have about the biggest winner here, 59%. They're managing but fatigued. You still find meaning in your work. You often feel mentally or emotionally drained. Some days are harder than others, but you push through. 17%, the next one, engaged and energized. So you feel fulfilled, motivated, connected to your work. You experience stress, but you manage it. You recover well. So that is awesome. Good to hear. 14% of you are burned out and disengaged. You feel emotionally depleted, cynical, disconnected from your work. You no longer find fulfillment and may be considering a change. Those, I just, I'd love to give you a hug if I could right now. And then 10% of you are struggling and overwhelmed. So you feel that, you know, you're persistently exhausted, detached, ineffective. Stress is affecting your well-being, and you're finding it really hard to recharge. All right. So after looking at everybody's Let's see. How do these play like a pivotal role in how we face our jobs every day? So if you're not feeling at your best and we're not able to do our best, how can we provide the best? So how can, you know, our— the children we work with or clients or whomever live to their fullest potential if they're going through trauma? How can they learn? How can we work if we're going through that too? And this is something I have really had a deep sense of. I guess my passion has been this. And you know, I've actually had a shirt that I made. I didn't wear it because it's a little silly looking, but it has said this for a long time. How can we Maslow before we can bloom? I mean, we have to. We have to Maslow before we can bloom. It's not possible to do one and then do the other. You can't go to class and sit in a room and try to learn anything and be inside hurting, you know, going through trauma. You know, there's— I'm sure there's a few people that can, and there's always, there's always that. But, you know, I tell staff a lot, think about that. You know, when you— before you go to work every day, if something happened at home and you're stressed out, you know, or something terrible happened in your life and you're trying to go to work, How are you going to be able to provide to anybody or learn new things? You're just— you're not. So, you know, to me, that connection is pretty simple. So we're gonna go back to Psych 101 and kind of talk a little bit about Maslow. So Mr. Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs. We've all seen the triangle. So we're very well versed in these areas. I won't go over them individually, but I did kind of want to talk about it a little bit here. I did put another model here, and it's— I believe it's pronounced Alters. It's the ERG model. It's very similar to Maslow, and our clinical officer for Parallel, Dr. Jordan, he really likes this model because I was discussing that with him, and I really wanted to put that in here as well. So it's something I had never really heard of. So if you ever want to look that up, I would. It's Pretty interesting. So looking at Maslow, we know that you've got to have your basic needs. So everything at the bottom has to— your foundation has to be built before you can do anything else. So it's like with schools and education, a child who is hungry, scared, lacking emotional support, they're going to struggle with learning. Schools must first ensure students feel safe, supported, valued before expecting deep cognitive engagement. That's just Really difficult. Educators must focus on students' well-being, like providing emotional support, fostering the classroom belonging before they push the academic rigor. So, you know, you walk into a classroom, and you know that the teacher may have— may not get along well with the students. They may not be somebody who really wants to be there that day. Kids aren't gonna learn because they're not feeling safe. They don't feel that sense of belonging. I know one of the schools that I— my kids are in, and I do PTA with our principal and our assistant principal. Every day they are in the hallway or out front, and they're welcoming every single child and trying to say their name. We have a very large school, and they work very hard to do that, and that sense of belonging is so beautiful to see, making those kids feel safe in that environment. You know, that's, that's huge. When we see kids in the hallway, or we see kids that we work with online, or whatever, you know, discussing things with them, giving them that sense of belonging that we want them here, we want to see them. They really crave that, and they need it. So these, you know, our leaders have to, you know, our admins, our teachers, our staff, they have to prioritize well-being first. You know, teams definitely thrive when their well-being is met. Okay, so they thrive with Psychological safety, work-life balance, and a sense of purpose. So those things are definitely needed. So that brings us now to Bloom's Taxonomy. I'm sure we've heard about this as well. And what this is, it's a— so Maslow before Bloom, that's a really common thing I've been hearing a lot these days. You know, like I said many years ago, it's something I You know, had heard once, and I thought, okay, this is absolutely, you know, where, you know, this— it's the hill I want to die on, basically. It's very important to me. Again, that's why I'm doing my dissertation in this as well, very much with trauma related to SLD. But this phrase, it basically is meaning to ensure that students are safe, have their basic needs before learning can begin. So when you look at Bloom, his taxonomy, The bottom of the triangle is remembering. So we're trying to retrieve knowledge from long-term memory. So for example, how did something happen? It's hard to do that if your brain is somewhere else. We do know that trauma can affect frontal lobe things. It can affect a lot of issues with memory. So here we are trying to remember things and, you know, apply that. Well, that's got to be difficult. Excuse me again. The next one is understanding, and that you basically are determining the meaning of instructional messages that are given to you, like things that are said to you, written, some graphic communications. You know, how would you summarize this? The next one's applying, so carrying out or using procedures in a given situation, like how would you solve X using what you've learned? You know, next is analyzing. If you've noticed, we're going from step to step. It's a lot of steps. And we're definitely having, you know, a lot of things to remember. So it goes all the way up to evaluate and create. You know, creating is putting elements together to form a novel. It's, you know, it's just the bit, something big that you've taken all that information to do. You know, the role of asking more complex questions in creative thinking is also part of that. And if you really can't, you know, if you don't have— what I'm trying to say here is that If you aren't able to remember, understand, apply, you can't keep going up the ladder. Same thing with Maslow. So it's very much telling us that if we're not in a safe place, if we don't feel that sense of belonging, if our basic needs are not met, we didn't have breakfast that morning, anything, you know, we're worried about going home after school. How can we do any of these things? Okay, very, very difficult. All right, so now for the crafty fun part, I like to call it. All right, so at the beginning of the presentation, we did talk a lot about eudaimonia and burnout. So we're gonna remember that eudaimonia reflects a deep sense of engagement, coherence, and alignment between one's work and core values, while also, you know, ensuring that others are treated with competence, compassion, and kindness. So furthermore, you know, I believe that these actions enhance eudaimonia. They're not just directed towards others, but they also involve cultivating that positive attitude and actions toward yourself. And that's what's gonna lead us into our last activity.

Okay.

Now I'm sure you guys have done things similar to this before, but kind of do a little different spin on it here. So things you're going to need is a sheet of paper if you have one. Like I said, you don't have to do this right now, but if you want to, that is also great. Crayons, markers, colored pencils, gel pens. I mean anything you want to use, finger paint, whatever. You can have definitely scissors, tape, glue things to it, you know, attach anything you want to. If you want images from magazines, pictures you printed out, you don't have to have any. You can just draw things. And of course my favorite's glitter. If you know me, you know that that's, that's a must. And I, of course, the one I made is full of glitter because I love it so much. Alright. So what we're doing is you're at the very top of the board. You are going to write my Eudaimonia vision board. Okay? And you're going to do something kind of like the picture shows. But before we begin filling this out, just take a minute to think about, you know, your values and your passions and what drives you. You know, what activities make you feel deeply engaged? Could it be something like working with a student, or maybe taking a challenging hike? Something I'd like to do. It's been a while, but that's something I used to love. How do you want to grow both personally and professionally? You know, growing both helps you become more stable and feel that sense of balance. We talk about balance a lot. Something we really need to look at as well. Okay, so basically you're thinking about, you know, what drives you, what makes you feel engaged, and how do you wanna grow? Well, we're gonna divide our board into 4 sections, but the middle section is technically the 5th section, or just kind of a— you can make it into a circle, a cloud, a star, whatever you're feeling, or just another, you know, square if you want. It's totally your call, whatever you feel. Alright, you can color code each section if you want. You could add symbols, anything you would like. And these are just some ideas to help guide you. So I'm sure, you know, a lot of us thrive on color coding. I know I do. I use it in every aspect of my life. Even my closet's color coded. That's how I keep things organized. If my life's in chaos, that type of organization is very helpful. You don't have to be a professional artist. Just draw whatever comes to mind. So it was written, mentioned before we talked about, you know, writing things down that you want to change. But we need to focus on things we don't want to change as well. So if you've already accomplished certain steps in your life, think about those, because those are very important to really talk about. So why this works for eudaimonia? It encourages self-reflection, intentionality. It engages creativity for self-expression and motivation. It reinforces intrinsic motivation and long-term fulfillment. And it acts as a visual guide to stay aligned with your authentic goals. Okay, so here is the next one. So I want you to prioritize your basic needs. We do need to set work-life boundaries. You can even write affirmations in here or quotes that inspire you, like Maslow before Bloom. Add stickers, glitter, fancy tape, anything you want to. Place your board somewhere where you're gonna see it every day. You know, I wouldn't put it, you know, downstairs in the basement. I would put it next to my desk. I'd put it somewhere where I can actually see it. So we do have to have our basic needs met before we can move towards learning. We've all learned that over time, especially in this presentation. I do feel that goes the same for teaching others and ourselves. You know, how can we guide and shape anybody, you know, in our students, clients, if we're not able to effectively care for ourselves, maintain our well-being, and cultivate our own sense of balance and purpose? Okay, we need to learn how to support and grow or flourish as educators and practitioners. We have to prioritize our own mental, emotional, and physical health. I know you hear that all the time. But only when we are grounded and fulfilled can we truly guide others with authenticity, empathy, and effectiveness. This activity will help you do that. So on your first section, there we go. It's about your purpose and passion. So you can write purpose and passion there. You don't have to. But you know what excites you about your life, your work? Think about these as 2 different things. Okay, some of us live our lives to work, and we also have to, you know, work to live. But what you separate those things out. You know, we probably used to know what really made us happy about our jobs, but maybe that's gone away. So try to bring that back to the present. What makes you really happy about your job or your life? You know, what values guide your decisions and your actions? If someone even described you in 3 words, what would you want them to say? That could go here. What do they think your passion is or your purpose? What do you think it is is most important, but what would you think somebody else would say? What is your per— personal definition of a meaningful life? Is that to retire and, you know, retire at the beach? Is that a meaningful life for you? Is it to change the lives of others? What is it for you? Everybody's is going to be different. The next section is growth and learning. You know, how do you continue developing your strengths and your potential? So how do you want to improve? You know, are there areas that you need to address? And I know there's a lot that I need to address, and I wrote them down on mine. It's kind of hard to get to that part with yourself, but you have to be honest. And you know, if you don't, you don't acknowledge it, how can you work towards it? How do you want to stay the same? Maybe there's stuff you've already worked diligently on, and you really want to be proud of that. So write that down. And then when you look at your board, you're like, hey, I can do it. I've done it before, so I can continue. But something you want to learn, if there's any books, courses, experiences, maybe you want to learn, you know, how to bowl a 300, or maybe you want to learn how to jump rope or something. You know, it doesn't have to be about your job. Could be anything. What are your strengths? And what challenges have helped you grow the most? The third section is who supports and inspires you. You know, why do they inspire you? Have they gone through hard times? Have they been through burnout? Have they faced trauma? I'm sure we know a lot of people who have had these serious hardships or going through them right now. But they continue to, you know, move through them and get the assistance they needed. And, you know, how does that inspire you to do the same? You know, how do you cultivate meaningful relationships? Which that brings us back to Maslow and that sense of belonging. Who are you? Who are the most important people in your life? How do your relationships support your personal and professional well-being? What kind of support do you need from others to thrive? And how can you build stronger connections with your community? All of those things, you know, really help build that sense of belonging. The fourth section is well-being and balance. What keeps you grounded? We've all heard the term self-care. That's something we say all the time. You know, what is that for you? I mean, it doesn't necessarily mean, you know, going and getting a massage, although that's super helpful. It could mean just sitting down reading a book or, you know, going out with friends one evening and just laughing. It could be organizing your thoughts on paper, doing a to-do list, and you're checking things off, or just taking a few minutes to look out the window and just stare off and not do anything. Whatever self-care means to you, think of some ways that you can do it to prioritize yourself. So what self-care practices help you maintain your energy and your peace? Thinking about it that way, what makes you more balanced, more stable? You know, this, like I said, doesn't have to be about going to the spa when you have time. It's about finding peace with what you have, with what you have now. How do you currently take care of yourself, like physically, mentally, emotionally? What activities make you feel rejuvenated? What helps you reset? And you know what self-care practices Would you like to do more often? The final section is your impact and your legacy. This is very important and deep, I think, because once you think about all of those things, it'll lead you to this. Why is making a difference important to you if that's something you want to do? Will it benefit you? Will it benefit others? How does that impact make you feel? Feel— is it making you feel fulfilled? That's hard to say together. Does it help you flourish? You know, other ideas are things like, how do you want to be remembered? What differences do you want to make in the lives of others? Is there any legacy you want to leave in your field? Even if you could write a letter to your future self, what advice or encouragement would you give? You know, how do you want your family to think of you? Those are things, you know, you would put in that middle section. So you've created your board. Now what do you do? Oops, sorry. So at the beginning of the presentation, we talked about eudaimonia and burnout. So let's remember that eudaimonia does reflect that deep sense of engagement, coherence, and alignment between your work, your core values, and while also ensuring that others are treated with competence, compassion, and kindness. So furthermore, I do believe that actions that enhance your eudaimonia are not just directed towards others, but they are, you know, definitely involve cultivating those positive attitudes and actions towards yourself. Breaking the cycle, things to consider, preventing and coping strategies. We need to recognize those symptoms early. Having self-awareness helps prevent escalation. Practice self-care. Set emotional boundaries. Don't avoid over-identifying with students' trauma. That's, that's a tough one we have to do. Seek supervision and support. So talking to others definitely helps. Engage in professional development. So things that are trauma-informed practices. Hopefully schools are giving those out and doing more trauma-informed practices. Advocating for systemic support. Schools should probably provide mental health days, reasonable caseloads of wellness programs. But We know that it's not something that we should see a lot of. So to kind of, you know, end most of this here. So eudaimonia isn't about eliminating your challenges, but it's about finding the deep fulfillment despite them. You, by integrating meaning, connection, and self-care into your career, you can protect yourself from burnout and trauma exposure while fostering long-term resilience. So we're gonna do one more poll before we have questions and answers. So which part of the vision board do you feel is the most meaningful to you? So do you feel it's purpose and passion, it's growth and learning, connections and relationships, well-being and balance, or impact and legacy? Which one of those means the most to you? Take another minute, really a minute, but a few seconds, and see what you're thinking. And hopefully everybody has enjoyed this and taken some time to really think, you know, what your passion is, so you don't burn out, so you can keep that light going. Okay. So well-being and balance, 47% of you definitely feel that is your most important factor in this. The next one would be connections and relationships, about 30% of you. Some of you feel that purpose and passion is important, also impact and legacy, and growth and learning. It's very interesting to me to see well-being and balance as being the largest one here, because that's just telling me that You guys wanna make sure that, you know, you're healthy mental health-wise. You're healthy. You're able to balance everything, get everything done. And that is wonderful to see. I don't know if you can see it, but my vision board— probably not see it very well, but I've been working on it to get it done. Does have some glitter, of course. And I believe We're going to move into the questions and comments section.

Thank you so much, Miranda. That was a wonderful presentation. As a reminder, if anyone has questions, please put them in the Q&A. And this is Miranda's information if you would like to reach out to her or follow her on LinkedIn. I'm going to give everyone just a couple of minutes. I wanted to share, Miranda, Mindy Brown shared A very nice comment that she felt seen, heard, respected, and validated and understood, and she was very thankful for the presentation. So thank you so much for that. So while people are thinking about their questions, I have a few. So let me go over to my questions. Here's the first one. How does eudaimonia differ from happiness?

Oh, that is a good one. So it is basically— eudaimonia is more of that state of flourishing, and you're living in alignment with your true purpose. So in your values, it's unlike fleeting happiness. You know, it emphasizes the engagement, the personal growth, the virtue. You don't necessarily have to be happy to have that. You just have to, you know, find what makes you flourish, what makes you What makes you go?

I love that. What might a personal plan for eudaimonia include?

So the plan, kind of like what we did tonight, it might involve having career goals. It might have like work-life balance like we did, engaging in reflective practices, having different strengths, writing about those, contributing to others' well-beings. Just basically about pursuing that lifelong learning. That is a very important factor that we need to do. Great.

So we did have a question come through. So you mentioned that you can only be burned out by something you are passionate about. Is there a word or a concept for the similar feeling of exhaustion from work or tasks that you are not passionate about? I'm sorry if you can hear my dog sneezing. Please excuse me. Excuse that.

That is a wonderful question. I did not come across it besides just exhaustion, honestly. Because the only thing that I really— without sitting here and thinking for a long time, if anybody has any other thoughts on that, chime in. But I would definitely say just actual— just people say, I'm sick and tired of this. They say things like that. But I don't know of any actual term. Maybe there is, and I'm just— In my own space right now after, you know, going through all of this, I really can't think of anything right now.

April mentioned decision fatigue, but I think that's a little bit different, right? That's a similar concept, but a little, a little different. Decision fatigue can definitely happen. And Linda asked, do you think someone that has a 10 As an ACE score have more struggles in this area and cause burnout faster?

I'm assuming she's referring to the professional or practitioner having the 10. So the ACE score is that adverse childhood experiences. And I, you know, I read a lot of Nadine Burke Hammer. She is— oh, she's great. If anybody's ever read The Deepest Well, I highly suggest it. About trauma and just how it affects everything. But you know, if you're talking about a professional that has the ten, you know, I mean, I'm absolutely open about my score. My score is almost a ten from things that have happened before I was eighteen and why I went in the field I did. So you know, yeah, absolutely. I'm like I can try to find eudaimonia in what I'm doing. I can. You know, try not to get burnout. It does affect me a lot because of that trauma, because of the trauma I'm taking on from others, because I've experienced it. Now they're experiencing it. It's very difficult. But it, to me, it can happen. But you, again, it has to come with all of those, you know, sense of belonging, finding that person you can talk to, all the different ways to keep yourself engaged and be able to know that, you know, you have to— finding what your passion is, what you're doing, and then just keep going is my thing. I just keep moving forward. So I know it can be very difficult, but it— for me, I can do it. I'm not saying everybody can.

Yeah, absolutely. Meg shared a phrase, we often have to care for people we don't care for. This can be hard too, caring for folks who can be challenging. is hard, which I agree with.

Very good comment.

I'm going to ask, I think, one more question. How can aligning your work with your core values support edamonia?

So when your work reflects your values and strengths, it can lead to greater satisfaction with what you do, more resilience, being able to bounce back, more fulfillment, Those are all key aspects of flourishing and having that purpose-driven life.

That's great. Any other questions that anyone would like to ask, please put them in the Q&A. I'll give everyone one more minute, and then we will start wrapping up.

Okay.

So let me ask you this, Miranda. Why is it important for educators or helping professionals to understand both Bloom's Taxonomy and Maslow's hierarchy? Why is that important?

That's a very good question. So I would want to say that, you know, understanding both, that really shows you that holistic development of others, you know, um, having both emotional needs met before you can even Remotely start anything cognitively. Yeah, against those— that ladder, that if you're not safe, secure, um, fed, you know, sheltered, clothed, all of those things from Maslow, you— it's really almost impossible to do the other. Um, you know, how can you learn? How can you focus in school? How can you listen? How can you focus on your work? How can you learn new things? We're all learning different stuff every day, and if we're dealing with Outside trauma and things of that nature, it's almost almost impossible. Again, I'm not saying it is because I will hear always feedback. Well, I did it well. You probably did, but I'm sure something was probably met in Maslow in order to help you bloom.

Absolutely. Thank you so much. We're getting a bunch of thank yous in the Q&A. I just want you to know just lots of fantastic jobs. Wonderful presentation. So thank you again for, for your presentation. So this concludes the educational portion of our webinar, which is available for ASHA CEUs and NASP CPDs. As a reminder, you will be receiving a survey next week by email. Please be sure to answer all the questions and complete the survey by the deadline. The deadline will be in the email. And before we end, we have a few more announcements. First, a special thank you and appreciation to our Parallel providers for all that you do to support students, and thank you to all— to everyone else, excuse me, that took the time to join us today. So thank you very much. I'd like to mention Parallel is hiring. If you or anyone you know may be interested in our open provider positions, we also have a referral program should your district be interested in partnering So there are a few things that I want to cover. So at Parallel, it is our mission to help you become the best in your field by giving you the tools and resources you need to succeed. You chose education, which is a challenging profession, one that is too often overlooked. We want to change that. Thank you. Our ultimate goal is to assemble the best team of providers, offering you the opportunity to learn from the very best and, and be part of a community with an even bigger mission. So you may be happy and settled in your current role, and that's great. Perhaps you are working at a district or a school who is feeling overwhelmed and understaffed. Parallel partners with schools and districts to provide elevated special education support. Offering a range of specialized services from virtual support and assessments to speech and speech-language pathology, speech therapy services, behavioral and mental health counseling, and specialized instruction with top-tier clinicians backed by a robust clinical leadership team. If your school could benefit from having an extension to your in-person team, we'd love for you to connect us, and we have a referral program where you can refer your special education director or special education coordinator. So if you're interested in becoming part of Parallel's community of providers, I encourage you to go to our website and fill out our Become a Provider form. If you know someone who may be interested in becoming a Parallel provider, we have a referral program that gives you up to $500 per referral, and we will follow up after the webinar with more information via email so you can, if If you need those links, we will send them to you. And before we leave, make sure to follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn. Miranda, if you don't mind going to the next slide. So these are our— these are our handles. If you have any— If you— I'm sorry, excuse me. Our webinar will be on our YouTube channel, so that is where you'll be able to watch this wonderful webinar, and our LinkedIn and Instagram handles are on there as well. So thank you so much for everyone for joining us. I'm, I'm so happy that we had this presentation. Miranda, you're amazing. Thanks again, and I hope everyone has a great night.