Reset and Refresh: Strategies for Stress Relief - UGDSB Professional Student Services Personnel
OSSTF PD Day, April 2026
Slides
Click here to download a notetaking PDF of the PowerPoint slides.
Resources
Why we’re not doing ‘toxic positivity’
The State of Mental Health in Canada 2024 (CMHA Report)
Burnout Among Educators and Healthcare Workers in Canada (Mental Health Research Canada)
Educator Well-Being and Pandemic Recovery: Supporting the Mental Health of Teachers and Education Workers (Canadian Teachers’ Federation)
Low-Impact Debriefing Protocol
Self-Compassion practices by Dr. Kristin Neff
How to silence your inner critic and stop being mean to yourself (video)
Vicarious Resilience research (Hernandez et. al.)
Glimmers and resourcing (the practice of calling to mind Glimmers intentionally to shift your internal state)
Supporting the Wounded Educator: Trauma-Informed Strategies for Self-Care (book) by Dardi Hendershott and Joe Hendershott
Why Asking for Help is Hard but Important (article)
Communicating Boundaries Worksheet
Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself (book) by Nedra Glover Tawwab
Further Learning
Boundaries Around Emotional Labour: Here’s a video containing some great ideas for boundary phrases when dealing with challenging, aggressive, rude, etc. people. Talks about how to stay professional while being assertive. And this article about Managing Emotionally Charged Client Interactions has some really useful strategies.
De-Escalation: Here are a few de-escalation essentials from a recent workshop I did for a drop-in centre. I’m also a fan of what’s called the Hot Walk and Talk Protocol which is a way we can support each other when things have gotten heated.
Not taking things personally: This is a great chart outlining recommendations for viewing & managing challenging situations through a trauma-informed lens. And this is a more general set of tips for working toward taking things less personally. It is written for adults with ADHD, but has useful info for anyone.