Building Blocks for your Health and Wellbeing

I first came across Five to Thrive when working in a large local authority.  We used this approach in developing attachment/attunement and also used it with Early Learning practitioners and parents in our family learning centres.

Five to Thrive is a key strand of KCA Training (https://fivetothrive.org.uk/) [1]and is used as an approach to “transform the lives of others, especially the most vulnerable”.

Their simple graphic and language helps to break down barriers and allows communities to make significant change in engaging with children.  The five building blocks in the approach are activities designed around:

Respond    engage   relax   play   talk

These are described as the ‘building blocks for a healthy brain …. drawn from research into the key processes of attachment and attunement that forge bonds between young children and their carers’.

The Five to Thrive building blocks are designed to support positive feedback processes and creative nurturing work.  It prompted me to think:

·   What would be the building blocks for a healthy brain for teachers and school leaders?

·  Can we apply nurture and attachment strategies in our care of ourselves and/or in working with leaders?  

· Do school leaders at all levels require to be nurtured and to be professionally nourished?

Undoubtedly, we all require care, protection and nourishment as we continue to grow. 

So, here’s the 5 To Thrive I came up with for school leaders:   

PLAY  

PERSPECTIVE  

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING  

FLEXIBILITY  

PRAY/REFLECT

PLAY

The importance of work-life balance cannot be over emphasised.  Play – time spent with family and friends doing the kind of leisure activities that we enjoy helps us to grow professionally.  By recharging our batteries – even by taking a coronavirus style socially distanced walk in the fresh air – we clear our heads and give ourselves the best chance of continuing to grow and to serve.  Sir Tim Brighouse in “How Headteachers Survive and Thrive” [2] talks about finding your ‘hyacinths’ – those things that you treasure - these help one to de-stress and grow.

However, play shouldn’t be relegated to time off the job – find ways to have fun while working.  A laugh and a sense of humour go a long way to build and maintain relationships at home and work.   

PERSPECTIVE

It is possible to keep a sense of perspective with all those spinning plates and competing priorities by taking practical steps.  Depersonalise situations by separating tasks and criticism from you the person. Where possible, manage your time, manage your diary and be selfish. Mark a block of time ‘busy’ –at least once a month – take time out to think, to network, to share with others doing similar work.  This not gives comfort but helps to retain a sense of perspective. No challenge is insurmountable and sometimes a wee professional spell away from it helps solutions to be found. You cannot do everything.  You cannot do it on your own – so be inclusive, open and responsive to self and others. 

PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

If we want to develop successful learners and effective contributors etc, we have to model these.  Quality professional learning is vital in your 5-2-thrive.  Find ways to remain curious about pedagogy, about new ways of working and about new research in your areas of interest. In doing this you build resilience, you become a “bottomless well of intellectual curiosity” (Brighouse) and you continue to grow. You can add other positive outcomes to the list as you will also be building networks of people who share interests and forging relationships that could be important in keeping your sense of fun and perspective and by modelling lifelong learning for others in your school, they in turn can ‘step up’ to assist in challenging times.

FLEXIBILITY

So, if in building your 5-2 thrive you need play, perspective, professional learning and positive relationships, then above all else you will need to be flexible.  Those who think plans are to be followed to the letter, timetables to be followed to the minute, remits to be enacted to the job description will find little play or perspective or relationship building in work or life.  Of course, plans are important but they need to be flexible enough to bend to changing circumstances.  Remits are important but anyone in your team with an idea or a suggestion is worth listening to regardless of their position in the organisation. Being regimental can feel comforting but in letting go you will find more time, more energy and more allies in getting things done. 

PRAY/REFLECTION

This is an individual response to your 5-2 thrive.  Our lives often seem too busy, too noisy and there is little silence in them.  Find a time for silence and it will be an important building block for your health and wellbeing. Take time out every day to pray or reflect or be mindful or just to be silent. Use that time of silence to talk and to listen to what’s most important to you.  

I often use the analogy of prayer as conditioner for the soul:  look at adverts for hair conditioner, see the animation of the split ends etc being repaired. This is how I see prayer, personal reflection and mindfulness.  An opportunity to get loose ends back together.

CONCLUSION

So, play, perspective, professional learning, flexibility and pray are mine, what would your Five to Thrive be?

REFERENCES

[1] https: //fivetothrive.org.uk

[2]https://johntomsett.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/how_head_teachers_survive_and_thrive_by_prof_tim_brighouse.pdf