Spur Funds Pilot Program to Support Teacher Wellbeing
The Flourish Foundation has sought to support the mental well-being of K-12 students in the Wood River Valley since 2011. Through two flagship initiatives – the Mindful Awareness Program and the Compassionate Leaders Program – the Flourish Foundation has become intimately familiar with Blaine County schools and the challenges related to stress and burnout both students and teachers face.
A novel mindfulness program, designed specifically for Blaine County educators, was launched in 2024 with the support of a $15,000 grant from Spur. The Rest, Renewal, and Attunement Program was developed by the foundation’s executive director, Ryan Redman, and Erin Kesselman, one of Flourish’s Mindful Awareness Program facilitators to support teachers in the areas of mental and emotional health.
“Teachers are caregivers who work in incredibly urgent environments,” Kesselman notes. “Their jobs require so much giving – of themselves, their time, and energy – and such demands, unsurprisingly, can lead to burnout. We’ve seen mounting evidence that mindfulness and social engagement can help address this burnout, and we wanted to build an intentional social community to provide teachers with tools and practices to integrate into their lives.”
In September 2023, the inaugural cohort of 12 teachers began a nine-month wellness journey with monthly support group meetings bookended by two full-day retreats. Mindfulness exercises, including meditation and breathing techniques, helped teachers develop self-awareness, reduce stress, and improve emotional regulation. The Cultivating Emotional Balance curriculum provided tools and strategies to manage emotions effectively, leading to increased emotional balance and resilience.
The group comprised the full range of teaching experiences, from preschool through high school, and represented nearly every public and private school in the county. “We wanted participants to be able to build connections outside their existing communities,” Kesselman says. “And the small size was intentional, so we could engage in deep work and foster trust and safety in a relatively short period.”
Redman and Kesselman were hopeful that participating teachers would reap several benefits and renew the teachers’ spirits. The results from ongoing surveys and interviews with participants indicate they were correct.
One participant noted, “We as educators share our calm, peace, tools, and regulation skills to support young people all day, every day. Teachers are in dire need of this being done for them.” Another said, “It was simply the best. What a gift. I am so grateful you saw the need and created this program.” All 12 teachers agreed that the program was beneficial and that they gained the necessary tools to support their mental and emotional well-being. Not one person missed a session, and all attended an alumni gathering this past October to reconnect and reengage with their learnings.
After a successful first year, the 2024-2025 class was filled in less than five days and has a waiting list of more than 20 teachers. And in September, the St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation (SLWRF) agreed to invest $35,000 per year for three years in the Flourish Foundation to support this program and their student mindfulness initiatives.
The SLWRF has spearheaded a county-wide Mental Well-Being Initiative to improve mental health resources in prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery. They felt the Flourish Foundation’s mindfulness programs dovetailed with their commitment to strengthening mental health in the community and wanted to collaborate on their common goal. “The mental well-being of our teachers is critical to supporting the mental well-being of our youth,” says Megan Tanous, chief development officer at the St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation. “We are enormously grateful for community generosity, which made it possible for us to invest in the important work the Flourish Foundation is doing.”
This same community generosity allowed the Spur Community Foundation to fund these efforts a year ago. “We were so pleased to partner with the Flourish Foundation to provide tools to our teachers and support their mental health,” says Spur’s executive director, Sally Gillespie. “Teachers interact with and influence students, parents, their own children, and other adults in the community, and we believe this program can effect massive change. We were thrilled to see the SLWRF forge their partnership with Flourish and perpetuate the cycle of generosity in the Wood River Valley.”
Redman couldn’t agree more. “The interdependence of it all is so profound,” he says. “People often limit teachers’ impact to the kids in their classroom, but we’ve seen the outsized role that teachers play in this community and are happy to have a hand in helping them – and by extension their students and schools – succeed. Likewise, we know we could not do this work without the integral support from Spur and the St. Luke’s Wood River Foundation. These partnerships enable us to touch our community's entire ecosystem of well-being, and we are excited to see what the future holds.”
The Flourish Foundation’s mission is to build a kinder, wiser world by facilitating students’ personal growth in self-awareness, community service, and environmental stewardship.