SUCCESS!
Maine School Winter Wellness Summit
Life is Good, Wellness Makes It Better!
January 30 & 31, 2020
The Samoset Resort in Rockport
Summit Resources
This was an awesome professional development with outstanding keynote speakers and presenters.
KEYNOTE Murray Banks, is a motivational speaker and world champion athlete with roots in teaching school. Murray lives life with a passion for health and well-being. He shared the importance of positivity on one’s health and well-being using hilarious images, imaginative videos and poignant classroom stories. Learn more about Murray at www.murraybanks.com
KEYNOTE George Manning returned to the Wellness Summit with more learnings, tools, and resources for life! George provided knowledge and skills from more than 40 years teaching of psychology at the collegiate level. He engage the audience with his enchanting personality and stories focused on life, work and the pursuit of balance. Read feature article about George in Maine Seniors Magazine!
The Summit offered sessions that addressed the Physical-Emotional-Mental-Social-Spiritual and Occupational dimensions of health with a special emphasis on Mental Wellness for all!
The goal of the Summit was to prepare and empower participants to create healthy, positive and safe schools for all school personnel and students by promoting policies and environmental practices that support healthier schools, improve personal health and well-being, and enhance academic achievement. They say goes, "timing is everything" and this could not be a truer statement given the events that followed the Summit. We have heard from attendees how they are putting many resources they received to work amid the COVID-19 events.
Click here to view the Summit agenda
Schools are not only places of learning, but they are also worksites. Fostering school employees’ physical and mental health protects school staff, and by doing so, helps to support students’ health and academic success. Healthy school employees—including teachers, administrators, bus drivers, cafeteria and custodial staff, and contractors—are more productive and less likely to be absent. They serve as powerful role models for students and may increase their attention to students’ health. Schools can create work environments that support healthy eating, adopt active lifestyles, be tobacco free, manage stress, and avoid injury and exposure to hazards (e.g., mold, asbestos). A comprehensive school employee wellness approach is a coordinated set of programs, policies, benefits, and environmental supports designed to address multiple risk factors (e.g., lack of physical activity, tobacco use) and health conditions (e.g., diabetes, depression) to meet the health and safety needs of all employees. Partnerships between school districts and their health insurance providers can help offer resources, including personalized health assessments and flu vaccinations. Employee wellness programs and healthy work environments can improve a district’s bottom line by decreasing employee health insurance premiums, reducing employee turnover, and cutting costs of substitutes.
Resources
For ideas on employee wellness programs visit the Staff Lounge in the virtual school on the US CDC healthy Schools website.
Contact
Susan Berry
Health Education and Health Promotion Coordinator
Coordinated School Health Team
(207) 624-6695
susan.berry@maine.gov