Faculty Self-Care

For the Spring 2024 semester Sarah will be holding Faculty Care Office Hours by appointment. Sarah has an office in KEL 2120 and can also meet virtually. To make an appointment please email at sjayyousi@csusm.edu.

Faculty Safety and De-escalation Resources

In October 2023 Sarah Jayyousi led a workshop on Faculty Safety and De-escalation. You can watch the recording of the workshop (campus log-in required). 

Useful Apps for Self-Care

Please note that this list of links are provided as a resource and is for informational purpose. CSUSM, the Faculty Center, and the Faculty Care Facilitator does not endorse or approve any of these applications. CSUSM bears no responsibility for their accuracy, or usefulness. ·

• Mindful CSUSM
• Calm
• Luminosity Mind – Meditation app
• The Breathing App
• Happify- overcoming negative thoughts and stress and life challenges
• Mindfulness Daily
• Fragrant Heart- Heart centered-meditation.
• oscER San Diego (NAMI) – Organized Support Companion (education, and San Diego County behavioral health resources)
• Stop Breathe and Think

Mindfulness Practice and Holistic Wellbeing Workshop (By Application Only!)

  

Facilitators: Dr. Ranjeeta Basu, CHABBS Professor and Center for Contemplative Practice

Sarah Jayyousi, Director Crisis Response Team, and Faculty Care Facilitator

Overview   

1. Training workshop in-person at CSUSM Faculty Center (KEL 2413) on Wednesday, April 19 from 9:00-1:00 pm (lunch provided)  
2. $200 training stipend (salary) for eligible faculty  
3. Open to faculty of all ranks and colleges with faculty appointments in Spring 2024  
4. Deadline to apply: April 5, 2024

Description  

Research (Brown et al, 2007) has shown that contemplative practices can reduce stress, anxiety, and emotional reactivity, while improving concentration and performance. Consistent practice of contemplative techniques can, literally, change our brain functionality and help us use our cognitive, emotional and physical selves more effectively. Mindfulness practices that increase our ability to act with awareness, with nonjudgment and with nonreactivity can have a significant impact on stress and anxiety.

There are also many ways in which mindfulness practices can improve well-being. Over the last decade, there has been an explosion of empirical research on the positive impact of mindfulness practices on well-being (Killingsworth et al, 2010). It is now well established that mindfulness practices can lead to reduced stress and emotional reactivity and increases in subjective well-being. The intellectual endeavor of higher education is well served by the embodied experience that contemplative practices bring, especially with the documented rise in mental health concerns among students, faculty, and staff.

Strayhorn (2018) defines sense of belonging as a feeling that you matter to the group, that your contributions are valued and acknowledged. Studies have found that mindfulness practices can reduce loneliness and increase sense of community and belonging (Russo, 2019; Oliveira, 2022). Mindful breath practices increase our capacity to be more open and receptive to each other. Mindful relational practices such as sharing with and mindfully listening to each other’s personal lived experiences make us more aware of our common humanity while at the same time honoring our differences (Kramer, 2023). Mindfulness practices can increase our capacity to be vulnerable in a brave space where all conversations and emotions are welcomed and held in compassion (Arao & Clemens, 2013; Berila, 2015). Mindfulness practices can also increase sense of belonging by expanding our capacity to be with negative affect associated with imposter syndrome and by challenging limiting beliefs and suspending self-judgment (Dong et al., 2017). Research has also shown (Lingtao et al, 2018) that when mindfulness practices are introduced to a team who work together it reduces conflict and increases collaboration within the team. Mindfulness also increases our capacity for compassion (Lim, 2015) and increases productivity (Gelles, 2015).

Training Objectives: 

1. Learn about mindfulness and how to make it part of everyday life.
2. Explore tools to help increase capacity for pausing, reflecting, and then responding from a place of wisdom and compassion.
3. Practice mindfulness of breath, mindfulness of body, mindfulness of thought, mindful movement, mindfulness of emotions, joy, and compassion practices.
4. Explore areas of wellness you would like to focus on to improve overall wellness.

Time Commitment and Compensation  

This training session will meet in-person on 4/19/2024 from 9:00-1:00 in KEL 2413.  Faculty will receive $200 training stipend for attending the training and submitting a one-page reflection on how you will incorporate the training session's materials and wellness tools in your professional life to support your work as a faculty member. This is due to the Faculty Center by May 10, 2024 (please submit electronically by emailing to Dr. Ranjeeta Basu rbasu@csusm.edu with a cc to facctr@csusm.edu).

Who Should Apply?  

Faculty of all ranks from all colleges with faculty appointments in Spring 2024 are welcome to apply!  

Any faculty interested in learning about mindfulness practice. 

How will faculty be selected?  

1. Stated interest in learning more about wellness practices.
2. Diverse representation of different ranks, disciplines, and colleges  
3. Priority for faculty working towards tenure and promotion 
4. Space will be limited to 15 participants   

Only Unit 3 faculty members who will be on contract with an existing Unit 3 appointment during the entire time frame of the training or professional development opportunity are eligible to be considered for a stipend. Faculty may not request or accept professional development and/or training under this program unless they are on active pay status as a faculty bargaining unit employee. Summer stipends can only be offered to faculty who will be employed the preceding spring and subsequent fall semesters.

Faculty are limited to a maximum of $10,000 in stipends for faculty training and professional development per fiscal year. Faculty cannot accept an offer for a stipend that will cause them to exceed this $10,000 annual limit.

All faculty members accepting a stipend must fulfill all of the stated terms and expectations that constitute completion of the training or development activity to receive the stipend