Building emotional fitness and resilience in educators and teachers

Together with the Yivani Mbali Foundation and the It Starts With Me campaign, a mini workshop to explore emotional fitness was held in Durban for Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners and educators.

February 25, 2020|Matthew & Chantal

Together with the Yivani Mbali Foundation and the It Starts With Me campaign, a mini workshop was held in Durban city centre for a group of approximately 30 Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners and educators. Organised by the Linda Zama Trust, the workshop explored how Shape of Emotion could support mental health and build emotional fitness with interested ECD practitioners.

The Linda Zama Trust recognised the need to attend to the surge in levels of frustration, a sense of not being appreciated, anxiety, stress and other emotional difficulties experienced by Early Childhood Development (ECD) practitioners and educators in KwaZulu-Natal that are part of the trust. The Yivani Mbali Foundation together with 5th Place were invited to facilitate a pilot workshop to explore how Shape of Emotion could support emotional resilience with interested ECD practitioners.

The workshop focused on the importance of building emotional fitness and introduced participants to Shape of Emotion, a model, process and tool of how emotions are structured, stored, and regulated. Shape of Emotion is a life skill that can be learnt and used to deal with emotional challenges and build emotional fitness.

What are emotions?

Emotions are a mind-body response triggered by events, memories, and thoughts. When something is felt, it activates a neural network, simultaneously throughout the brain and body, producing hormones and chemicals that influence behaviour on a conscious and unconscious level. Emotions are part of being human, they are supposed to flow freely throughout the body but when we BAN (bury, avoid, numb) emotions we can get physically, as well as mentally, ill.

The challenges and needs

The workshop participants were forthcoming and open when asked about the challenges and needs regarding emotional issues in the ECD system. High level concerns raised included the following.

Nobody respected the work they did

The community did not support them

The community had the idea that they made a lot of money and were envious and spoke badly about them

Parents did not always pay

Sometimes they had to use their own money to buy food and other items for the centres

They were not paid well

There was always a problem with finances

The versatility of Shape of Emotion

As Shape of Emotion is a learnt skill, it is not expected that everyone will find success the first time round. The results, however, were indicative of the versatility of Shape of Emotion.

No previous experience with Shape of Emotion

None of the participants had any previous experience of Shape of Emotion. The process does require focus and concentration and preferably a quiet environment. The noise, heat and possibly the language barrier could have been an inhibitor for some.

Non-English speaking participants

Many of the educators could only speak Zulu and we were presenting in English with occasional translation. Despite this, most participants engaged openly, with curiosity and lightness.

Feelings about the Shape of Emotion experience

At the end of the session the educators shared some of their feelings on the Shape of Emotion experience.

Here is a selection.

Feel stress free

I forgot where I was and fell asleep

Felt so much more lighter

Excellent to relax

Felt relief

Forgot my worries

Calm and sleepy

Pre and post-session questionnaires

Over 30 participants were afforded the opportunity to learn and experience a different way of engaging with their emotions by using Shape of Emotion. In order to measure the effectiveness of the process we utilise pre- and post-session questionnaires.

Language was a factor that casts some doubt over whether all the questions were properly understood but the results are reported as received.

22 sets of questionnaires were completed and collated.

Pre and post session comparisons

Ability to feel feelings / emotions

Prior to the workshop 68% of the participants did not find it difficult to feel their feelings. By the end of the workshop virtually everyone, 95%, or 21 of the 22 surveyed participants, confirmed that they were able to feel their feelings.

Bar chart showing 95% ability to feel emotions after emotional fitness class session

Ability to engage with feelings

In terms of engaging with their feelings, 73% or 16 participants felt comfortable feeling their feelings prior to the workshop and 91% or 21 participants reported being able to find the feeling in or around their body during the Shape of Emotion process.

Bar chart showing improved ability to find feelings in body after emotional fitness class

For those that were not able to feel and / or find their feelings, it is understood that individuals who have suffered extended periods of trauma become disassociated from themselves, their minds and bodies. The most important self-regulatory skills that these individuals need to learn is emotional regulation and adjustment.*

Given this, the data above highlights the importance of learning a tool like Shape of Emotion to build emotional fitness.

* Courtois, Christine A. “Complex Trauma, Complex Reactions: Assessment and Treatment.” Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training 41, no. 4 (2004): 412–25. https://doi.org/10/c8dzs5.

How easy to let go of difficult emotions

Prior to the session 59% of respondents found it very easy or somewhat easy to let go of a difficult emotion compared to 82% who found it very easy or somewhat easy to let go of their difficult emotions using Shape of Emotion. The balance were either neutral or found it Somewhat difficult.