Finding ways to beat stress
Teachers can meditate, use massage chairs, do yoga in Zen Zone
Working in a school where nearly all of the student population qualifies for free and reduced-cost lunch, Donegan Elementary counselor Nicole Kolesnik frequently interacts with children facing trauma and hardship well beyond their years, like homelessness and wondering where their next meal will come from.
At the elementary school in south Bethlehem, students become like family, and teachers often end up taking on their students’ stress.
“Especially with the pandemic, as adults we are experiencing our own stress at home and with our families, and then we come to work and take on the stress of our community,” Kolesnik said.
Donegan teachers needed a way to decompress so they could be refreshed and present for their students during what has proven to be their most difficult year yet.
For Kolesnik, a recent afternoon called for a quick escape to the beach, but luckily she didn’t have to go far.
The school’s new “Zen Zone” transformed a former storage room off a brightly lit hall swarming with students into a quiet space softly illuminated with string lights where teachers can listen to and watch calming scenes on a TV screen, sit in massage chairs, pull out a yoga mat or meditate.
Kolesnik has already used the room several times since it opened this month.
“I come in, sit down and put a beach scene on the TV. I close my
eyes and I can feel the breeze in my hair and the sun on my face, and by the time I leave my heart is calm,” she said.
The $7,000 project was made possible through a grant from Air Products. The room was designed by Laura Bennett Shelton, a Lehigh Valley designer, and Helene Perrucci, who does program support and community outreach for the nonprofit Shanthi Project, which promotes mindfulness education.
Mindfulness is a type of meditation where the individual focuses on being intensely aware of what they are sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpretation or judgment. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery and other practices to relax the body and mind.
Perrucci, who is also a mindfulness educator at several local schools, says the practice helps students avoid outbursts and be better learners.
Studies have shown when students are stressed, their minds shut down and they have difficulty learning, Perrucci said. Teachers are more in tune with their students and better educators if they are less stressed.
The idea for the Zen Zone came about two years ago when Donegan Principal Erin Martin-Medina and her colleagues attended a United Way institute for local educators to share their wellness initiatives. Martin-Medina and her colleagues were impressed by a similar idea they heard about at Paxinosa Elementary School in Easton Area School District.
Donegan is already a “trauma-informed school,” which means teachers are taught to recognize students suffering from traumatic stress and provide support and coping mechanisms like communication skills and self-awareness.
“These are skills I wasn’t taught as a kid,” Martin-Medina said. “We ask our teachers to model and teach these concepts, yet we don’t regularly use them ourselves.”
That’s why Martin-Medina thought it was particularly important to have a Zen Zone. Rosa Carides-Hof, Donegan’s community school coordinator and a member of the school’s wellness team, served as a lead on the project.
The space is different from a regular faculty lounge because teachers don’t go there to work on their next lesson plan or socialize. The space is specifically for mindful meditation.
“What if we recharged ourselves as often as we recharged our phones?” says a sign just inside the door.
Research shows teachers have one of the most stressful jobs in the United States.
A 2017 study from Penn State University showed 46% of teachers report high daily stress during the school year, a number similar to those in the nursing profession.
The percentage of those reporting high stress levels has only gone up since the pandemic.
In November, the Pennsylvania Mental Health Summit reported that 84% of educators said their mental health is significantly worse than it was one year ago. Trends show mental health concerns will increase significantly over the next six months.
A teacher’s stress also affects their students.
Elementary teachers who have greater stress and show more symptoms of depression create classroom environments that are less conductive to learning, which leads to poor academic performance among students, according to the Penn State study. Students who began the school year with weaker math skills and had a teacher with more depressive symptoms had the lowest rate of achievement.
Teachers who report greater burnout early in the school year have classrooms with more behavioral problems, and when teachers are highly stressed, children show lower levels of both social adjustment and academic performance, the study said.
“I’m very happy and I feel validated that this project was supported so much by the district and administration,” Kolesnik said. “It’s OK to have a bad day and here’s a space where you can take a minute to feel better.”