Educational leaders are vital for promoting positive traits in their learning communities. They also are highly impactful on teacher, staff, and student wellbeing. However, if leaders are struggling, their work, and by extension the educational community, may suffer. Although a wealth of research exists
on how to support teachers using mindfulness-based approaches, much less is known on best practices for leadership. The primary aim of this project is to evaluate an adapted version of the evidence-based Cultivating Awareness and Resilience in Education (CARE) program with educational leaders. CARE has been demonstrated effective with teachers but research indicated that changes were needed to improve acceptability with leaders. We will use outcome measures found to have changed in CARE research with teachers to understand efficacy. More than just understanding whether there are improvements, we are also interested in how those improvements are taking place. The secondary aim is concentrated on understanding change processes for this mindfulness-based intervention. We will use innovative daily diary methods to investigate changes in emotional lability, reactivity to daily stressors, and use of mindful practices.
