Showing up! Speaking up!

Recently I jumped out of my comfort zone and showed up. I showed up with shaking nerves that seemed to take over my entire body. I showed up with a voice that I barely recognized. I showed up with sweaty palms. I showed up with worry about what people would think or say. I showed up with a fear that I would not be heard.

I showed up at a Public Board Meeting to speak on the topic of Agenda Item 7.1 - Operational Expectations OE-2: Learning Environment/Treatment of Students.I had three minutes to address the Board of Trustees and Chief Superintendent of the Calgary Board of Education. It was a huge formal board room that felt more like a court hearing than a meeting. It was a completely nerve-racking experience that I highly recommend you try one day! I learned so much about myself and the workings of a large school board by attending and speaking at that meeting. Here is the speech I prepared and shared at the meeting. The video stream of the public board meeting can be found on the CBE Board of Trustees Board meeting YouTube channel. 

Good afternoon and thank you for this opportunity to address the board. I would like to speak about the topic of resilience, wellness and mindfulness as a support tool for staff and students as it relates to Agenda Item 7.1. 

I am representing myself today. My name is Amber Pavey. I am a former CBE student, CBE classroom teacher, a trained mindfulness educator and parent of three middle school students currently attending an incredible CBE school. I am here to advocate for my students, my children, and my colleagues. I was thrilled to learn that the CBE is taking action on embedding wellness into their school development plans.   

Learning to read, write and do arithmetic are life skills. As is the cultivation of our creative selves, and the ability to foster emotional & mental resilience. We live in a time and culture where the need for mental and emotional wellness is not a luxury or something that should only occur in times of crisis. A time when overwhelm has become a daily reality for many and reports of loneliness, depression and anxiety are at an all-time high. I believe that when practices that support mental and emotional wellbeing are embedded in our everyday lives and relationships, everyone benefits. 

What would it take for the CBE and all school boards to embody these characteristics, values and practices in every single space? I wonder how that would impact our future? 

I believe so deeply in these values and ideas, that I left my role as a classroom teacher this past December, to complete my formal training as a mindfulness educator. I came to these practices over the past 10 years to support my own wellbeing. I found them so impactful that I began sharing them in the classroom with my students. The benefits my students experienced were swift. I have left the classroom to share mindfulness education programs in schools and workplaces everywhere. My colleagues need it, my students need it, my children need it, I need it. It is an intervention that has profoundly impacted my life personally and professionally. It impacts every interaction I have, every relationship, every choice, and every decision. It has informed the way I see the world and the way I respond to the world. 

Why mindfulness? Mindfulness is essentially the ability to cultivate present moment awareness. It can be directed internally or externally. Mindfulness has numerous psychological, physical and mental health benefits that have been well studied, and researched for the last 30 years. Research has demonstrated that mindfulness has the capacity to help develop new neuro pathways in the brain. 

I firmly believe that all schools and educational institutions have a responsibility to provide emotional and mental tools to support wellbeing? A place where student feedback and engagement are daily practices. A place where every single school staff member is trained in trauma informed care. A place where no group is marginalized or separated from the larger whole. 

A place where human connection is the root of the environment and technological attachment and addiction is a thing of the past. 

I often share with my students that Maya Angelou is famous for this piece of wisdom…. “When you know better you do better”. There is no doubt in my mind that we do know better. I have spent many years working alongside dedicated and committed educators. I do this work for them, for my students, for my children, and for myself. 

This work is not easy, fast or seamless. It takes bravery, clarity, confidence, vulnerability and the ability to have hard discussions. To face reality and to forgive. To embrace trust and instinct rather than create fear or blame. To foster connection and creative solutions. I often ask myself, my children and my students this question… What ripple do you want to create in the world?  

Thank you for your kind attention today.