Self-Care in the Time of School Shut-Downs

The pandemic world has turned all our routines, expectations and plans upside down. With more time at home, I thought I would do a better job with self-care. After all, we are the experts in self-care, but probably the worst at following our own advice. I can say I’m sleeping more, when I can fall asleep, and I am walking almost every day. However, I confess, there is a lot of stress eating. I’ve tried to reduce my news consumption because the constant news feed can be anxiety producing. The books I planned to read for relaxation and the Rosetta Stone I’ve been meaning to work on for personal enrichment are not even getting a second look. I often just feel too overwhelmed.

Instead of practicing self-care, I have been figuring out what the role of the school counselor looks like in the virtual world and learning to embrace new technology. I’m also worrying about my most vulnerable students and wondering how I will connect with those whose safe place may have been school. How will I communicate with those who may have no internet, computer or way to be contacted? What about those who are food and housing insecure? There’s no doubt these thoughts have kept some of you awake at night, too. None of us can predict how long it will be necessary to do school in this way, but we are a profession that is used to handling hardship and the unexpected. It’s what school counselors do! We just need to remember to take care of ourselves while we do it.

FSCA is providing a source of self-care and support for our members and non-members during these unprecedented times. We are offering Zoom meetings (see image below) as a forum for the school counseling profession to discuss our collective experiences. FSCA’s goal is to give school counselors, district leaders and counselor educators a place to gather to support one another and discuss the unexpected challenges and inequities created with distance learning. We offer a place to share resources and brainstorm possible solutions to the unanswered questions for which we have no frame of reference.

In the past month, I have been privileged to facilitate several of these Zoom collaborations and I am looking forward to participating in more as we all figure out how to navigate the close of the school year together.

In all my years as a school counselor, I have never been prouder! It is uplifting to hear how counselors from all across our state are meeting the unique needs of their students virtually. It is inspiring to hear your celebrations, success stories and inventive solutions to the common challenges we all encounter. I am honored to serve such an indomitable, compassionate and creative group of people. Please take the time to join one of our Zoom sessions for some counselor self-care. We are going to need the endurance and strength of the profession to help ourselves and our students
through this pandemic journey.

Take care and stay healthy!

Jeannie Maddox is FSCA governing board chair and a middle school counselor in central Florida. You may reach her at maddox@fla-schoolcounselor.org.