2026 ACSA Women in School Leadership Forum

Women in educational leadership experience high levels of stress due to gender bias and demands of the job. In a 2026 Women Leading Ed survey, 92% noted stress as a significant problem and 80% conveyed their work-life balance as poor. The focus will be on positive ways to mitigate the effects of job-related stress–compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, and time as a limited commodity–on one’s health, outlook, and productivity through intentional and systematic self-care.

Women leaders are valuable assets and role models, and it is imperative that we keep them healthy and in the position for the long-term (Pennicooke, 2020). Practicing self-care can be beneficial to ensuring their well-being, and can better position them for success and for maintaining optimum health throughout their careers. Additionally, 93% of teachers requested support for wellness from their administrators, and less than 33% of leaders felt confident to do so (Alpaca, 2026), and could therefore benefit from this presentation.

This session will spotlight self-care as a healing-centered approach that can help women leaders to be proactive and to take positive control of their well-being. Participants will learn about, and be engaged in different types of self-care activities. Our women leaders will leave with their own plans, coping strategies, a commitment to implementing daily self-care, and ways to ensure that their staff and coworkers are also attuned to practicing wellness in the workplace and at home.