WellEducator’s premises, core values, and programs rose from my educational research and program-development background, from my own history of burnout, and from a need I saw everywhere in education.

The increase in reports of educator stress and burnout have been alarming. The genuine tears and raw emotions of teachers struggling to support their students while also trying to support their families are heartbreaking. Attempts to coach teachers to implement evidence-based classroom practices to create meaningful relationships with students have been failing because educators are overworked, often underpaid causing financial stress, and burnt out! The staggering number of educators leaving the profession within their first few years of teaching begged for immediate action.

I responded by starting small, when I began to offer workshops and trainings on educator wellbeing at the Pearl Buck Center, where I was director, and in my position as an EI/ECSE Education Specialist at the Oregon Department of Education. I was delighted when the results for educators were visible and encouraging.

Those successes together with the wisdom of Fred Rogers, whose philosophy is exemplified by his work, became the catalyst for WellEducator, LLC.

-Renée

“As work grows out of play, an attitude toward work grows with it – an attitude that may persist through our workday life. That attitude can have a lot to do with how we accept challenges, how we cope with failures, and whether we can find in the jobs we do, the inner fulfillment that makes working worthwhile, in and of itself.”

Fred Rogers
The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember