This episode of the podcast is a little different. It's actually part two of a longer conversation about supporting students with anxiety. Because it was such a long conversation, we wanted to separate it. If you haven't listened to part one - go do that now. In it, we discuss why students are feeling so anxious right now, and how adults can either further the anxiety or help them through it. 

In this part II episode we get further into the root causes and hear more from the youth themselves about the support they need to feel well right now.

This conversation was organized through the DC Consortium for Mental and Behavioral Health in Schools (or DC COMBS), a group of more than 30 school-based behavioral health organizations working in DC. EmpowerEd has been a member of DC COMBS for more than three years now, and we have learned so much about the important, intersecting needs of educator, student and family well-being. We think it's so important to have open spaces like this to discuss these themes both broadly and intimately. 

Please see our resource list for supporting students with anxiety here.

A big thank you to our guests: DaVaughn Montgomery and Alfons Prince - both great DC educators; Tara Brown and Andrea Jones - two wonderful DC parents of students and a very big thank you to Daniel and Naomi - two DC high school students who bravely shared their experiences with us. 

Also, I want to give a shoutout to Dr. Megan McCormick, cofounder of MedStar WISE who does incredible work supporting mental health in schools and did a great job facilitating this conversation. 

We appreciate you all being open to these deep, important conversations about what it means to be well and how schools can do a better job supporting students, teachers, and families. Thanks for listening and as always, let us know what you are thinking! 

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at or email [email protected]

For the next two episodes of the podcast - we are doing something a little different. As you know, we typically highlight educator perspectives on themes related wellness. Although this is incredibly valuable (and truly why we exist as a podcast), there are times when we need to get even wider in our view to incorporate the ways that educator, student and family wellness intersect with each other. 

For this, EmpowerEd has been working for the past three years with the DC Consortium for Mental Wellness and Behavioral Health in Schools (or DC COMBS) run through George Washington University. This is a group of more than 30 organizations who support the wellness needs of all stakeholders within a school community.

Through DC COMBS we've had some really rich discussions about how to strengthen our wellness system overall in schools, particularly when tackling big complicated issues like managing student anxiety (which we are discussing today).

Our guests include two DC educators (DaVaughn Montgomery and Alfons Prince), two DC parents (Tara Brown and Andrea Jones) and two DC high school students (Daniel and Naomi). Together, we discussed why anxiety is impacting so many students in difficult ways, and how caring adults can support kids while also addressing the root causes for anxiety. 

This session is also facilitated by Dr. Megan McCormick, cofounder of MedStar WISE who does incredible work supporting mental health in schools, and has been a guest on the podcast before. I always love being in conversation with her and know you will too. 

Because the conversation was long, we are dividing it into two parts. The first episode (this one) focuses on what anxiety is, why it seems to be getting worse for students, and how it impacts schools and families. In part II, we'll get further into root causes and hearing from the youth themselves on the support they need right now.  

As always, thanks so much for listening and for everything you do!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at or email [email protected]

On this episode, we're diving deep into a topic that we hear about often from our community: the unique and often overwhelming wellness challenges facing SPED, or special education, teachers. Of course, we know that the work of supporting our most vulnerable students comes with immense rewards, but we are also incredibly aware of how the complex pressures on SPED teachers are leading to an alarming rate of burnout and turnover.

As more and more students become identified with special educator needs, how can we truly care for and retain these incredibly important educators?

To have this conversation, we were so excited for Dominique Moore, a long-time SPED teacher and current community organizer at EmpowerEd to be in conversation with Emily Griswold, also a long-time SPED teacher and the founder of 11:11 Wellness, an DC school wellness organization focused on creating ecosystems of care and trust for teachers and students.

As you'll hear, Dominique and Emily each bring an important understanding and powerful perspective about the SPED landscape in DC. Together, they explore similarities and differences between SPED and Gen Ed teachers, and what’s being missed in our current approach to supporting SPED staff and students.

In particular, they discuss:

Their journey to becoming SPED teachers, and how their classroom experiences have shaped their view of our education system;

How schools can shift from burning out SPED educators by intentionally building cultures of care.

Relational strategies that school leaders can use to make wellness an integral part of student and school success.

And much more!

We are inspired by both Dominique and Emily's wisdom and vision. We hope you find validation and inspiration in their conversation. As always, please reach out if you have any thoughts, or if we can support you in any way.

Thank you so much for listening and enjoy the episode!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at or email [email protected]

Today on the podcast, we’re highlighting what we like to call the “teacher extraordinaire.” If you’ve spent much time in a school, you probably know at least one educator like this. They’re the teachers who, in addition to managing their own teaching load, somehow also find time to organize birthday cards, baby showers, and teacher appreciation treats. If your school has a sunshine or hospitality committee, chances are it’s run by a teacher extraordinaire.

We also want to recognize that many teachers, because of other life responsibilities, don’t always have the capacity to go above and beyond—and that is more than okay. Still, we wanted to better understand the educators who continually support the wellness of their fellow staff members (and students and families). Because while we absolutely adore working with them, we also worry about their risk of burnout. We often ask ourselves: how can we—both as individuals and as a system—take better care of these teachers so they can keep taking care of everyone else?

To explore this, we invited three of our favorite D.C. teacher extraordinaires. Chandler Dennard is a music teacher at Kimball Elementary and has done incredible research on teacher well-being through the WTU. LaQuontinesha Atchinson is a second grade teacher at Ludlow-Taylor ES who serves on multiple committees at her school. And Noudjal Gamougoun is a SPED TLI at MacFarland MS who recently earned her Master’s in Social Work.

Together, we discuss:

- What motivates them to show up and share so much with their colleagues and schools.

- How they’ve learned to protect against burnout—and the systemic changes they’d like to see to support their efforts.

- The role teachers could play in designing and implementing better SEL practices for students—if only they were consulted.

- And much more.

As you’ll hear, these teachers are incredibly caring, thoughtful human beings. It made my heart happy to hear more about their motivations and their vision for our education system. We hope they also inspire you to take better care of yourself (if you relate to them) and/or to better support the extraordinaires in your school.

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at or email [email protected]

For our first episode of 2026, we're discussing a topic central to both student achievement and educator well-being: effective family engagement.

We know families are essential for student success, but too often the pressure for this falls on individual teachers rather than being supported by a systematic approach that creates consistent, empathy-driven interactions.

We were so lucky to speak with Emily Garcia, Executive Director of the Flamboyan Foundation. Flamboyan has partnered with over 70 schools in Washington, DC, to help educators improve their proactive family engagement practice and provide systems-level support to help ensure that all leaders see families as partners in a student's academic and personal growth.

Emily shares the core strategies for better family engagement, including taking an assets-based perspective and challenging internal biases when interacting with families. She also outlines best practices that help educators enlist families in ways that actually make their jobs easier, rather than adding to the overwhelm.

We also discuss:

- The biggest misconception about effective family engagement—something we see all the time in schools.

- Why making family engagement a top priority helps educators and schools achieve all their other goals.

- The magic of the "home visit" and how schools can better support educators in this practice.

- And much more!

We loved this conversation and hope it inspires you to focus on family engagement in new ways this year. As always, we’d love your feedback. What family engagement strategies have been most effective for you?

Thank you for listening!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at or email [email protected]

Today, we’re talking about something that may not sound exciting on the surface, but is deeply important for educator and school wellness: the state of our school buildings.

In a city like Washington, DC—where some schools are actual historical buildings—facility maintenance requires constant upkeep. Yet, citywide systems break down far too often. Most of our schools grapple with ongoing facility issues, and teachers are left to mitigate the stress of HVAC failures, water outages, vermin problems, and more.

To have this crucial conversation, we were honored to speak with Janeese Lewis George, the Ward 4 Council Member who oversees the Department of General Services (DGS). DGS is responsible for school building maintenance. Every year during pre-service, she visits DC schools to ensure they are ready for student learning.

As you'll hear, Council Member Lewis George is a lifelong DC resident and an amazing graduate of our city's education system. She also recently announced her candidacy for Mayor of DC and has made education—and teachers—a central focus of her campaign.

In this episode, she shares more about her own K-12 journey and why she cares so deeply about supporting our school system and educators. She explains why functioning school buildings are the lynchpin of student success, and highlights the many people and systems that work together to care for our schools.

We also discuss:

- Why building issues are ultimately a solvable problem, and the concrete policies that can drive improvement.

- DC's incredible new school designs that build community-centered learning environments.

- How to address deeper issues of school safety, including the terror of ongoing ICE actions near our schools.

- And much more.

We hope you enjoy the episode, and we wish you a wonderful winter break! We look forward to sharing more with you in 2026. Thanks for listening, and Happy New Year!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at or email [email protected]

We are so grateful for the conversation we're sharing today about creating a positive school culture.

In our years of educator wellness experience, we've seen how a school's culture can make or break a teacher's well-being. And yet, even when we understand its importance, it can be difficult to pinpoint exactly why one school is thriving while another feels "toxic," especially when they exist within the very same school system.

To help us better understand the building blocks of positive school cultures, we invited an expert, Dr. Nia Nun. Dr. Nia is a teacher, scholar, and DEI consultant based in Ithaca, NY. Her work blends research, creativity, and community engagement with a focus on "radical vulnerability." She uses this approach to encourage the reflective, human-centered practices that are foundational to building positive cultures—in schools, and really, everywhere.

In our conversation, we discuss—and even practice in real time!—the elements that help build community and encourage belonging for staff, students, and families.

In particular, we dive into:

• How shared rituals, like greetings, can set a powerful relational tone.
• The important connection between fear and toxicity within a school culture (and how radical vulnerability can help address it).
• How to begin healing a culture that has felt toxic.

And so much more!

As you'll hear, Dr. Nia is incredibly inspiring. You can find more of her work at her website, DrNiaNunn.com, listen to her fantastic 2014 TED Talk, or check out one of her beautiful books: Super-Girl: Strength & Sadness in Black Girlhood (2016), Deep Breath: A Poetry Book and Curriculum (2022), or the digital textbook The Community is My Classroom: Radical Vulnerability as Curriculum.

Enjoy the conversation, and as always, thanks so much for listening!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at or email [email protected]

For the next few episodes of the podcast, we're going to focus on the federal interventions that have been happening since September 8th in Washington, DC. The current administration is enacting daily physical and political violence through ICE raids and increased police presence which is causing immense harm to and instilling ongoing fear in our residents.

At EmpowerEd, we've been talking a lot about how to practice wellness right now, especially in schools where educators are on the front lines.

For the first installment in our series, we were very lucky to have Queen Adesuyi who runs Reframe Health and Justice and her colleague, Jessica Peñaranda who is a mind-body somatic practitioner focused on grief support within movement work. Together, we discuss the specific challenges facing DC due to our lack of statehood and all the resilience and joy that the amazing people who live across our eight wards are cultivating anyway.

In particular we discuss:

• The specific justice and equity-influenced reasons why DC has been denied statehood and how our deeper values as a city can help us navigate this moment.
• How different concepts of safety can be a hindrance but also an important conversation to engage in to come out of isolation and really practice connection.
• The ways this occupation can worsen outcomes for our already justice-impacted youth and how to stay vigilant on supporting the student, rather than supporting the system.
• and so much more.

We are inspired by Queen and Jessica and grateful to be able share their voices and vision with all our listeners. We hope you find hope and connection in this conversation in their message. As always, please reach out if we can support you in any way.

Thank you so much for listening and enjoy the episode.

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at or email [email protected]

Today on the podcast we discuss a topic that is vitally important during this moment of federal takeover and ICE presence in Washington, DC: how to take care of ourselves during moments of grief, loss and uncertainty. Sadly, we are living through a moment where family members of students are being kidnapped and there is unprecedented interference with our governance as a city. Many of us are living on edge, while trying to educate and care for students. 

To discuss ways to care for ourselves in school communities, I was so grateful to speak with Melissa Sellevaag from the Wendt Center for Loss and Healing. Melissa is a longtime social worker who supports DC schools through difficult moments, including the loss of a student or teacher, and is working to meet the needs of this traumatic time we are living through.

In particular, we discussed:

- How to approach behavior in schools with curiosity, rather than blame and shame, to hone our "compassion lenses"

- Why it's important to think systemically to understand the behavior issues we are seeing in school (for both students and staff)

- The reason that it's so difficult to find and offer connection when we get stuck in the "protection" function of our nervous systems- and much more. 

Although the problems ahead of us are immense, we hope this conversation can help us all practice more self-care and cultivate the resilience we need to support students, families and our teaching communities. 

Please reach out if you have any questions, comments, or just need a little extra support right now. You are doing so much to support others, and we want you to know that we are here to support your wellness as a DC educator. 

Enjoy the episode and thank you so much for listening!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at or email [email protected]

We are so excited to kick off our fourth season of the Educator Wellness Revolution with an episode about how to strengthen educator teaming for both wellness and results!

From early on in our lives, we are taught the importance of teamwork for achieving a goal. There is no "I" in team right? And yet in education, where our goals are so incredibly important, we often lose sight of how teachers need to work together as a cohesive team to truly support students. And when teachers act as individuals, they quickly get siloed and burned out. 

To discuss why this happens, and the necessary design to help teachers work better together, we are so excited to be speaking with Leslie Edwards. Leslie is a longtime educator,  instructional coach, assistant principal, principal, director of school leadership development - you name it! - and currently runs her own educational consulting firm called Ed Leadership 4 Liberation. After such a rich career in education, Leslie's main passion is helping schools to redesign the way their teachers collaborate more effectively. 

In our conversation, we'll discuss;

• Why a "students first" mentality can actually work against the progress we want to see for our learners. 
• How the concept of working together as a team isn't a series of trust-builder exercises, but rather requires real systems and policy work.
• The reason that mindset work for leaders is so critical for great teaming and true educator wellness (and often falls by the wayside in our current education system)

 -and so much more.

As you listen to Leslie, we hope you are inspired to rethink and uplevel the teaming practices in your school this year. Leslie has an exciting upcoming Virtual Global Cohort for Educators & Leaders that you can register for here: www.tinyurl.com/thevirtualglobalcohort

Also, get ready for an exciting new season where we go deeper into EmpowerEd's themes of educator wellness, staff voice, and how retaining our educators is the most important way to transform our education system.

Thanks so much and enjoy the episode!

Thank you for listening! Please learn more about our educator wellness work in schools at or email [email protected]