Veronica Rodriguez Morales calls on teachers to recognize and meet their needs and contribute to physical and mental health. – Future Education

Veronica Rodriguez Morales calls on teachers to recognize and meet their needs and contribute to physical and mental health.

At the end of the 2023-2024 school year, more than 80,000 teachers and 1.6 million students (source: SEJ) in basic education (kindergarten, primary, and secondary) have concluded a year full of challenges and learning. While some teachers end the course with positive feelings, others end the course with great physical and emotional exhaustion. Recognizing this fact, experts suggest that teachers take advantage of the vacation period to pause, repair this wear and tear, and reconnect with themselves.

Teacher and Gestalt psychotherapist Verónica Rodríguez Morales, who has 28 years of teaching experience, emphasizes the importance of teachers taking care of themselves: “Teachers, by nature, are in the service of others and often lose their energy. It is essential that they chart a path of love and vital energy for themselves, knowing that they are not eternal.

Share three practical tips for teachers to reconnect with themselves:

Simplify Life: We are constantly lost in work and forget to be. We must not forget that being is an essential part of our work, because work for the sake of work distances us from ourselves.

Validate feelings without judgment: Accept and acknowledge your feelings rather than blocking them out, allowing for the emotional healing process.

Listen to yourself and meet your needs: Identify and meet your own needs as a form of self-love, exploring what is best for each person.

“Our awareness of our existence and how we live in the world connects us to everything we do. By being more aware of ourselves, we can be more compassionate and assertive with others.

In addition, there are other suggested practices for this vacation period, such as:
– Make breathing conscious.
– Ask and listen to your own needs.
– Self-release request.
– Reduce the daily rhythm.
– Get in touch with nature.
– Give yourself time for postponed activities.
– Doing physical exercises.

“If your need is to do nothing, you are doing enough for yourself,” Rodriguez Morales adds. “Don’t judge yourself for it, give yourself the gift of rest. Be loving and aware of how you feed your life through your senses. Be compassionate with yourself, let go of the demands on yourself and dare to do something new.”

From home, we can support teachers by understanding that, before becoming teachers, they are people with their own lives and emotions. Self-knowledge and emotional self-responsibility during this holiday period are vital to your well-being.

In a survey conducted by Mexicanos Primero Jalisco, with 21 teachers participating, 54% indicated that they end the school year feeling frustrated and exhausted, 28% feeling self-validation and well-being, 14% feeling self-demanding and anxious, 28% feeling self-validation and well-being, 14% feeling self-demanding and anxious. 4% feeling other emotions. These results confirm the importance of teachers taking time for themselves and regaining their balance and mental health.

Let’s know

According to research conducted by the Mexican civil association Primero Jalisco (MPJ), as well as a survey on career paths carried out in collaboration with the Institute of Statistical and Geographic Information of Jalisco (IIEG), teachers in Jalisco indicated five main needs to exercise their profession: 1) social and emotional support for students and teachers, 2) continuous training, 3) reducing the administrative burden, 4) providing spaces for listening and dialogue with authorities, and 5) providing greater continuity of study plans.

Mexicanos Primero Jalisco is a civil association committed to improving education in the state of Jalisco so that every girl, boy and adolescent receives a quality education that allows them to develop the best version of themselves, from the triple inclusion: #being, #learning and #sharing.