T-L Photo/JENNIFER COMPSTON-STROUGH Union Local Superintendent Zac Shutler, left, and mental wellness coach Joelle Moray of Wheeling celebrate the receipt of a grant that will allow Moray to provide services to the school district’s staff in the coming year.

BELMONT — A $20,000 grant will allow teachers, staff and administrators in the Union Local School District to focus on their own wellness in the coming school year so that they can better help their students thrive.

The services will come as a result of a partnership with Joelle Moray, a Wheeling-based mental wellness coach. Moray had become acquainted with Kristina Estle, curator of Flushing’s Underground Railroad Museum and owner of Lakeside Grants LLC, who came up with the idea to write a grant in support of the schools.

Estle, who started her business one year ago, thought that putting her experience writing grant applications for the museum and other nonprofits to work for the community would be a “wonderful way to help the Ohio Valley grow.” She said most nonprofits are understaffed and don’t have grant writing experience.

When she presented the idea of a grant to promote employee wellness in the ULSD, Superintendent Zac Shutler was excited and receptive, Estle said.

“Zac jumped on it,” she noted. “He was very, very excited about Joelle’s program. He is very pro-mental health awareness.”

So, Estle met with the director of the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation of Cleveland to see if it would be willing to fund the venture.

The organization was founded in 1959 by Mrs. Andrew R. Jennnings, who had a deep interest in improving elementary and secondary education, according to its website.

“The Foundation was started with $11 million and since its beginning, through careful stewardship of the assets, the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation has made grants of over $150,000,000 to date. Today, it continues to provide over $3 million each year to support PK-12 education throughout Ohio using three complementary strategies: grantmaking, thought partner convening, and honoring the teaching profession,” its site states.

According to Estle, the foundation director typical;y worked with urban schools and was “very curious about Union Local.” The director told her UL was the first consolidated school district to seek funding through the foundation.

“It was a real eye opener for her,” Estle said.

Once the funding was secured, Shutler and Moray mapped out a plan. Moray said every tool she will provide for district employees is evidence based and highly effective at reducing stress and increasing mindfulness. Some examples she cited include breathing techniques, meditation and communication strategies.

According to Moray, the training will be “interactive and immersive.” It will be delivered in a group setting and treated as professional development that is conducted before or after school.

Shutler said the goal is to complete 15 sessions and to include all district staff.

Moray anticipates that the training will help increase engagement, decrease absenteeism and help lengthen careers.

“We hope to see a decrease in absenteeism among our staff and when they’re here, they’re engaged and … the goal is to give them the tools to handle the things that come up in life,” Shutler said.

“Teachers have it very hard, it’s a very stressful job,” Estle noted. “They are also crucial for our children’s futures. They are their role models, who they look up to.”

She added that she expects the meditation and exercises Moray has planned to impact their teaching methods and classrooms and to affect children positively.