I am a learning consultant/trainer working in the field of mental health. It's not unusual that we encourage learners to engage in self-care during training sessions. This notion has grown more important during today's COVID climate of virtual training sessions. So, in what ways are we, as virtual facilitators, mirroring this practice and engaging in self-care during the sessions we lead? Myself, I like to clear my desk of anything not related to the topic so that I stay focused. I use my familiar clicker that I would otherwise have in hand during a live session to advance any slides that I may use. That small act of familiarity can help center me. I arrive to the virtual session early so that I can begin chatting and connecting with learners. Lastly, I turn my video on only during key elements of the training to include introductions, establishing agreements, activities and knowledge checks, or if I need to be on screen to gesture as an illustration or make a point. Otherwise, the content is my visual, which provides me a break and prevents ZOOM fatigue.
And what about you...what do YOU do to manage your self-care during a virtual training session that you facilitate?