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Self-Care for Selfless Educators & Advocates in the Movement

Session 4
Michaela Pommells, Reagen Price — Coalition for Racial Justice

Literary activist Audre Lorde once declared, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation and that is an act of political warfare.” Self-care is often an afterthought for social justice activists. The same is true in the movement for education reform. Every child and their family deserve equitable opportunities to learn and live well, and educators and advocates work tirelessly in service of that belief. No question: it’s in our nature to nurture. At home, at work, in the classroom and in our communities, we selflessly take care of everyone else before ourselves—if at all. But it is critical to remember that sustaining this depth of leadership requires sustaining ourselves.

In a society that defines strength by one’s capacity to survive, the broad messages we receive about caring for ourselves are to toughen up through overwhelming circumstances and that it is only when we suffer the inevitable burn out that we should make time for self-care. This interactive workshop will explore the responsibility we have to connect self-care with leading change. Participants will learn:

• how pop culture, race, and gender shape our ideas about when, how and why to care for ourselves • how to develop unapologetically selfish, specific approaches to personal sustainability; and • how to support each other through our intersecting journeys.

Conversational Practice

Interactive workshop

Presenter Profiles

Michaela Pommells
Michaela Pommells
Reagen Price
Reagen Price

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