For this final episode of our second season, we wanted to discuss a truly revolutionary, and at-times controversial concept, to create more wellness in our school systems: abolition. 

Although this term is typically applied to the criminal legal system, abolition is also a wider lens for viewing the world and is rooted in antiracism. We can use abolition to create wellness, liberation, and freedom in schools for students, teachers, and families. It provides the framework for us to collectively move away from punitive measures that further harm those most marginalized, and move toward an education system where all people are truly cared for and resourced.

This conversation is hosted again by Caroline Pryor, EmpowerEd's lead organizer and master student in Educational Transformation. As you'll hear, Caroline has done a lot of deep thinking and study on the connections between abolition and educational equity, and we are so grateful to have her here. 

Caroline is joined by longtime DC educator Sarah Cole. Sarah is on the National Faculty for PBLWorks and is the Founder of Rooted Liberation, an organization that provides equity-centered and justice-driven school-based coaching and consulting. Like Caroline, Sarah has done extensive thinking and practice to create school wellness through an abolition framework and has so much to share with us. 

Sarah and Caroline unpack the many historical connections between capitalism and our education system, and how that continues to harm Black and brown people today. Caroline and Sarah discuss how abolition can help untangle the damaging effects of multiple systems of oppression that show up in the school to prison pipeline, and the unlearning that is necessary to truly support the freedom dreams of our students.

Additionally, they discuss:

- Why abolition doesn't need to be a scary word, but rather one that promises good food, safe transportation, and healthy relationships.

- How using an abolition framework can create schools that are truly developmentally appropriate for young people.

- The ways to use a restorative and transformative justice framework to create the healing journey that is needed for everyone in a school building and beyond. 

- and much more! 

We hope this episode is both challenging and thought-provoking, and that you continue to ponder these themes this summer. We'll look forward to sharing our third season of the show with you when we are back in September. 

Until then, take good care of yourselves 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]

Despite so much attention being given to DEI efforts over the past years, many of the outcomes are the same for Black and brown children in our country.  Despite our growing social awareness of equity issues, why is there still so little tangible change? 

In this episode, we wanted to go deep into examining the root structures in education that hold back true equitable outcomes for all students. From the language we use to our attitudes toward student voice, so many systems are still steeped in the United State's colonialist and white supremacist history.

For this, we invited Raymond A. Mullings, a dedicated educator who has held many teaching roles in different parts of the United States. As you will hear, Raymond has done some important thinking on these issues, and spends his days working to create bigger structural changes. 

We were also joined by a guest podcast host, Caroline Pryor. Caroline is EmpowerEd's lead organizer and a current masters student in Educational Transformation at Georgetown University. She has a huge passion for equity in education so we knew she was the right person to help us host this conversation. 

Together, we discuss

- The difference between sameness and fairness for students from different backgrounds, and how this shows up in both policy and practice.

- How school hierarchies can unintentionally reinforce power imbalances, and how to unpack these dynamics to better understand each other's culture and context.

- Why we have to balance the immediate need to support our students with the slow and steady pace required to make lasting change. 

- and much more. 

There is so much more to say in this conversation, and for this, our next episode on abolition in schools will go deeper into these themes. Our hope is that if we can start breaking down these interlocking systems of oppression, we can begin enacting truly meaningful change. 

As always, enjoy the episode and thanks for listening!

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

This podcast discusses educator wellness for early childhood educators. Early childhood education is especially important here in Washington, DC. We've had universal PreK 3 and 4 since 2008 (something I am so grateful for as a parent), and a huge network of daycare centers and nannies serving families across all eight wards.

Universal Prekindergarten has not only alleviated a great cost to DC parents (because let's face it, daycare is so expensive!), but it's also ensured that all DC children receive the educational support they need during this critical period of their development. 

Despite this importance, we don't speak very often about the different experiences of ECE teachers and the specific wellness these educators need. For this, I was so excited to get the "dream team" of early childhood educators to talk about the importance of ECE and what more wellness would mean for this sector. 

- Jackeline Peña is a PreK4 teacher at Bancroft elementary school in DC, is a current EmpowerEd fellow, and has been supporting our new Parents Who Teach initiative. 

-La Shada Ham-Campbell is the owner of the great Petit Scholars preschool network in Ward 5 (where my son Jonah went from when he was an infant!), and has done great advocacy work for ECE in DC. 

- Larrisa Lei-Wilkson is the Deputy CEO for Pre-K 4 SA, an amazing citywide expansion of prekindergarten in San Antonio, TX where I have been lucky enough to help their teachers with self-care over the past few years. 

During our conversation, we discuss:

- How our collective perceptions of ECE have changed over the years. - The incredibly important equity issues involved with supporting ECE teachers.

- The policy and advocacy changes that can better support teachers, students and families.

- And much more! 

Since the recording of this episode, the Pay Equity Fund which we discussed has indeed been removed from the Mayor's draft budget. We are outraged that the city is breaking its promises to some of our most important workers, and urge anyone who lives in DC to contact their councilmember and voice their support to bring back the fund. Let's all fight to support the educators who are supporting our youngest students and their families. 

As always, enjoy the episode and thanks so much for listening!

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

Over our years of working on educator wellness programming in schools, we've found ourselves interacting with a lot of assistant principals. Assistant principals spend much of their time supporting teachers during the school day, and often are the ones making larger decisions relating to staff culture. To us, they seem uniquely situated to both understand the needs of their teacher, and have the decision-making power to implement important school-wide wellness practices.

On today's episode, we speak with two assistant principals in Washington DC who have taken an active interest in educator wellness. Inspired by their own personal wellness practices, they have sought to make their schools places where both students and staff can maintain their own well-being during the school day.

Sara Arranz is the assistant principal at Military Road and Thaddeus Stevens Early Learning Centers, and Christina Morado is the assistant principal at Garnet-Patterson STAY Opportunity Academy (formally Roosevelt STAY). They both have had long careers in education, and carry so much insight into how educators can evolve to better serve everyone in a school building.

Together we discuss:

- What gets in the way of them giving the wellness support they want for their staff.

- How to navigate the tension that can arise between admin and teachers.

- The structures and systems that could help retain educators, and get young people more excited about the teaching profession.

- and much more.

This conversation is great for assistant principals to hear, but we think everyone who works in a school will benefit from listening. It's so inspiring when education professionals can take this time to reflect on their roles, and the intentional ways they build culture in their schools. Enjoy and as always, thanks for listening!

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

On this podcast, we talk a lot about the importance of mental health. Especially since the beginning of the pandemic, educators have been recognizing that if they want to keep serving students, they need to find the right kind of therapeutic support for themselves.

But despite this awareness, so many barriers stand in the way of teachers getting the therapy they need. Mismatched schedules, out of network expenses, and long waiting lists are just a few of the factors that keep educators from dedicated time with trained mental health professionals.

MedStar Georgetown Center of Wellbeing In School Environments (WISE) is an organization that is figuring out how to break down these barriers by providing in-school therapy for educators. Their mission is to promote educators’ well-being through assessments and personalized improvement strategies so that they may thrive in their personal and professional lives.

EmpowerEd has coordinated with WISE in a few of our partner schools and wanted to share more about their awesome work on the podcast. For this, we were so grateful to have such an in depth conversation with Dr. Megan McCormick, Co-Founder, and Director of Programs and Innovation at WISE.

During our conversation, we discuss:

- The benefits and drawbacks of bringing therapy to teachers in schools.

- The common themes many educators are struggling with right now and the supports that are helping them.

- The difference between "demoralization" and "burnout" and why it's important to separate the two terms.

- Why a human-centric form of leadership is necessary to create a true culture of mental health in schools.

- and much more.

We nodded in agreement to pretty much this entire conversation, and think that you probably will too. This is a vital discussion and we were so lucky to have it. Please enjoy and consider forwarding it to someone else who may need to hear Megan's message!

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

Culture is important and it's complicated. Our identities and lived experiences shape who we are, but these differences can also create divides when they go unexamined. And for educators, there often isn't the time, space, or communication skills necessary to meaningfully address cultural divides when they arise during the school day.   

For this, we spoke with Markus Townsend, the Director of Culture and Students at Sela Public Charter School in Washington, DC. Sela is a Hebrew dual-language elementary school in Northeast DC. Many of their staff members come to teach from Israel, and many others are native-born Washingtonians, and this creates a truly unique cultural dynamic.  

EmpowerEd worked with Sela from 2021 to 2023 to help them address their cultural divides. After a little trial and error, we finally landed on an educator-led task force model. These working groups were organized around three central themes we kept hearing about from staff (the Hebrew/English divide, staff-led professional development, and creating a culture of professional accountability). They met regularly for small group discussion, and began leading professional development sessions for their colleagues. These groups uplifted staff voice and empowered educators to have difficult and inspiring conversations about culture, race, and identity at their school.  

We share more about our work in this conversation and also discuss:   

- The benefits of and potential conflicts that arise in a school that is so devoted to exploring culture.  

- How the current geo-political dynamics since October 7th have affected their staff.  

- Why human-centric leadership is so important to help staff members grow and heal during challenging moments.  

- And much more.  

We highly recommend this podcast to everyone, but especially hope school leaders  can listen and reflect on how to meaningfully address staff cultural divides and help promote a culture of open diversity in their schools.   

As always, we want to hear from you! If you enjoyed today's episode please rate us five stars and let us know your feedback. Thank you for listening and enjoy the show!

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

Vicarious trauma is a term therapists have long used to describe how they empathetically pick up the effects of trauma during their sessions with clients. But lately, we have been hearing this term used more with educators.   

School staff members are recognizing how they have absorbed trauma from their students - which has only increased through the pandemic - during their daily interactions. And unlike therapists, educators are not trained to recognize or care for themselves within a cycle of vicarious trauma.  

For this, we were really grateful to speak with Dr. Perry Camp, a longtime mental health professional with in depth experience in schools, and Mr. Antoine Harris, a licensed social worker who currently works with students and staff at Garnet Patterson STAY in Washington. They have so much experience navigating vicarious trauma in their own lives, as well as counseling educators to recognize the symptoms for themselves.   

During our conversation, we discussed:  

- Why educators are prone to picking up other people's trauma, especially in this pandemic era. 

- How to recognize vicarious trauma and the self-care educators can practice to help themselves if they see symptoms.

 - The trauma-informed policies and procedures schools can have in place to help educators take care of themselves. 

- and more!  

We hope this episode inspires a more open conversation about the vicarious trauma people experience in schools, so educators can get the support they need. As always, please let us know if you have any questions or comments about this episode. We always love to hear from you!

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

We are so excited to share our first ever LIVE audience recording with you - an educator-led panel from our EmpowerEd Educator Wellness Symposium on December 1st, an event we organize twice a year to share educator wellness learning in Washington, DC.

A little background on this panel: Lately in Washington, DC we've been experiencing a very tragic and unsettling time of community violence, which is definitely being felt in our schools. There are many city and educator leaders trying to answer the question of how to establish a new sense of safety but we have noticed how rarely educator voices and solutions are centered in this deeply important discussion.

For this, we put together an educator-led panel on the topic of school safety and educator healing and shared it with a room full of Washington, DC educator wellness leaders. These five inspiring educators are Calvin Fletcher from Garnet-Patterson STAY, Katrice Fuller from Monument Academy PCS, Chandler Dennard from Kimball Elementary, and Raynalle Rouse from Friendship PCS.

As you'll hear in our conversation, these educators have so many important insights and ideas that come from working day in and day out with students who are experiencing these traumas. They want to center mental health, student agency, and community investment to help regain a sense of safety for both students and staff in Washington DC.

We heard amazing feedback from our Symposium attendees on this conversation and are so excited to share it with you. Please enjoy and share with someone who may also need to hear these important educator solutions. Thank you!

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

As we all know, educators are on the front line of so much stress and almost nobody needs the skills of mindfulness - conscious breathing, mind relaxation, detaching from negative thoughts, etc - more than them.   

But putting mindfulness to work in schools has been a challenge for us! At our partner schools, we've struggled to find time in overloaded PD schedules, had yoga classes interrupted by school needs, and sometimes have experienced pushback from teachers who don't want to participate. For something so important, it's felt pretty difficult to put it into action.   

For this, we were so happy for us to have an in-depth conversation about mindfulness in schools with two long time DC teachers and mindfulness practitioners, Parag Bhuva (he/him) a teacher at Washington Latin PCS and Vipassana meditation practitioner, and Dekebra Crowe (she/her) who teachers mindfulness at Turner ES and also teaches Vinyasa flow and yin yoga.  

Our conversation is super real. We talk about the importance of mindfulness, how it actually works in a school setting and where school leaders can go wrong when setting up a mindfulness program for staff and students.   

For those who are interested in learning more about mindfulness, EmpowerEd has recently formed a partnership with the David Lynch Foundation (yes that David Lynch from Twin Peaks!), an international organization that teaches Transcendental Meditation, or TM, to first responders, veterans, and anyone who is on the front line of difficult situations.  

If you are a Washington, DC educator (or work in education) and interested in becoming certified in TM at no cost please reach out to [email protected]. We're going to start organizing DC educator meditation trainings in the new year, and we'd love to answer your questions about joining one.   As always, please let us know your comments 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]

*For DC Locals: Please sign up to testify for educator student loan relief and other teacher retention measures on November 21st (virtual)!!*

At EmpowerEd, we see advocacy as a central component for educator wellness in Washington, DC and beyond. To create an enduring system for both students and teachers, we need to change our system so that educators can more easily achieve real work/life harmony and avoid burning out.

This week's conversation goes deeper into that theme. We were so excited to interview DC Councilmember Robert White about his new legislation, the Educator Retention for Student Success Act of 2023. This proposed bill strives to holistically address educator wellness and retention through innovative measures like flexible scheduling for teachers, better pay for paraprofessionals, and providing more wellness coordinators in schools.  This bill reflects so many great ideas that come directly from educators so we really believe they will be effective!

As you'll hear in our discussion, Councilmember White understands the deep importance of mental health - for students, for educators and for himself. We discuss concrete ways to support mental health and create real equity in schools. As you'll hear, high school was a difficult time for Councilmember White, so the wellness measures of this bill are quite close to his heart.

If you live in Washington, DC, please consider signing up to testify at the bill's hearing coming up on November 21st. We need DC's councilmembers to hear why the measures of this bill would help keep quality teachers in our schools. Please sign up here by November 17th!

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