On Monday, August 31st, Erin Horn, certified Sources of Strength trainer, led an hour-long Educator Self-Care training based on the evidence-based Sources of Strength wellness model for Sycamore Community School District Staff Professional Development. Erin started out by explaining the upstream prevention philosophy, which details how building resiliency and coping strategies help people handle the stresses of life, including mental health challenges, substance abuse, trauma, and violence.
Erin then dove into the eight protective factors that make up the Sources of Strength wellness wheel and worked through helping participants engage with and think about what strengths they feel confident in and what strengths they would like to grow. At the end of the session, Erin introduced the wellness initiative that will launch in each school building. Erin will work with each building to create a wellness initiative. Numerous teachers from each building have already volunteered to help lead the charge. We can’t wait to see how each building will be pushing out messages of hope, help, and strength to the rest of the students and staff as they face a very challenging year! To learn more about Sources of Strength, click HERE. To learn more about evidence-based practices, click HERE.