This year’s incredibly successful ECA Conference covered a wide range of topics including a strong focus on wellness for children and the wellbeing of both children and educators alike. There were many outstanding speakers, and many talked about the importance of the emotional and mental health of children, but also that of the hard-working educators who take care of children day in and day out.
Each year it is a tradition at Bonkers Beat to organise a Staff Retreat and this time after the conference we felt even more inspired to do something that would have a specific focus on the wellbeing of our educators. Every retreat involves lots of brainstorming and sharing, as well as some delicious food and fun. Previous years we have done things like massage, yoga and reflexology, but this year we tried something a little different and enjoyed a Laughter Session together!
Ros Ben-Moshe from Laughlife Wellbeing Programs visited our team at the beautiful Woodman Estate on the Mornington Peninsula (what an exquisite place – we could not fault the food and service!), where she made us all very aware of the amazing feeling and benefits of laughter! We won’t give too many details away but we will highly recommend a Laughter Session to any group wanting to establish bonds within their team and give people a truly unique and brilliant experience. Ros’s laughter and wellbeing workshops offer an opportunity for people to learn strategies to ‘let go’ that work for them, and helps them to discover their personal strengths.
With wellness and laughter in mind, we’ve put together a collection of some of the health benefits of laughter:
Lowers blood pressure
Improves cardiac health
Acts as a mild anti-depressant
Boosts the immune system
Decreases stress
Helps us bond with others
+ many more!
Read more about the benefits of laughter here.
With the mental health of educators a crucial part of the foundation of quality of care for children, it is so important to create a supportive and caring environment for all educators. Having outlets to manage stress and stay centred and focused are highly beneficial, and we are now passionate believers in the power of laughter and its benefits. So much so that we are incorporating laughter into our daily Bonkers Beat routine! At Bonkers Beat children, families and educators take part in a ‘Welcome A New Day’ wellbeing session each day and we are looking to bringing laughter into our morning routine now too!
When it comes to brightening the day, improving bonds and boosting our overall physical and mental health, it seems that laughter really is a valuable medicine!
P.S. Head over to Bonkers Beat Music & Wellbeing Page and take a look at the photos from our 2014 Staff Retreat to see what a great time we had!