Encouraging Healthier Extension Professionals

Story in Brief

In March of 2020, Cooperative Extension professionals throughout the nation experienced sheltering in place restrictions, due to COVID-19. As Extension professionals were surveyed across the nation, professionals reported feeling anxious, overwhelmed, stressed, and stretched thin. Extension professionals from the University of Georgia, Purdue University, the University of Florida, the University of West Virginia and Virginia Tech collaborated to prepare a series of 10 national webinars and created resources to support professionals nationally. The webinar series, Feel Good Fridays, was created to spread positivity and mindfulness strategies. Along with the national webinars, the group co-authored two tip sheets and resources for professionals, developed and launched a program evaluation, compiled a quarantine resourcefulness cookbook, produced e-news articles for The Pulse, and created a virtual wellness challenge competition offered to the membership of the association to encourage professional wellness. The series gained pre-registrations of more than 1,000, a live audience of more than 630, and social media views that topped more than 6,400. One participant noted, "It has been fun to discover and see what passions and interests motivate colleagues from around the country and to have some professional and personal development that makes me feel a little lighter about life.”

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• Feel Good Fridays: Encouraging Healthier Extension Professionals Nationally During COVID-19