Chapter 11: School Administrators’ Well-Being and Mindfulness as Critical Components of Leadership and Building Healthy Teams

This chapter explores the intersectionality of administrators’ and educators’ well-being within the context of a school community and presents a personal and organizational wellness model, the Stinson Wellness Model (Lee & Stinson, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017a; Stinson, 2015) that schools can leverage for greater effectiveness and human flourishing. The model argues that an important role of administrators is to create professional environments that enhance educators’ confidence, will, and capacity to contribute positively in a volatile, uncertain, chaotic, and ambiguous world. While capacity building in education is traditionally associated with professional development, this chapter goes beyond and explores ways to inform and build expert knowledge within school teams through a holistic approach of personal and professional well-being. The Stinson Wellness Model takes into consideration inclusive dispositions to enhance well-being and mindfulness by transforming school personnel’s worldview, mindset, and self-concept (Dillon & Bourke, 2016; Hendel-Giller, 2017).