Back to School Toolkit: For Educators
This blog has two main parts: (1) supporting student mental health and (2) supporting educator mental health. We all have mental health, which means we must address and discuss the ways mental health impacts both groups in order to find solutions that benefit both groups.
Part I: Supporting Student Mental Health
As an educator, you are likely to be one of the first adults to witness behavioral and mental health concerns or changes in your students. Teachers are with their students for several hours a day, most of the week, and for a large chunk of the year, and at times that can be more waking hours with a student than their parents. Further, students behave very differently in environments away from their parents than in front of their parents. Because of this, educators play a crucial role in supporting their students and identifying mental health concerns early.
Many students come from backgrounds where they are experiencing adversity (even in homes where parents are doing the best they can). Adverse childhood experiences (also known as ACEs) can have lasting harmful impacts on someone, both mentally and physically. However, some studies have found that having a positive childhood experience (PCE or “paces”) can help build resilience and can help improve mental and physical health outcomes, even when ACEs are a part of a student’s story. How do teachers fit in here
Educators have a unique opportunity to show interest in your students and foster an environment where students can develop resiliency and feel a sense of belonging or peace, which may be more difficult for them to achieve at home. Educators can leverage their students’ strengths and provide a community of support that centers each student’s well-being.
Talking About Mental Health
Normalizing mental and behavioral health is long-term work that takes investment from members across the community. Educators can contribute to this by learning more about mental health (both what it looks like and resources that exist) and providing an environment where students trust that they can talk to you and you know where they can get help. Here are some things you should know:
Learn the warning signs. Every single person has mental health, just like physical health. And, in the same way our physical health can be impacted by both temporary and long-term illnesses, so can our mental health. For example, some people go through brief periods of mental health stress whereas other people may have life-long chronic mental health diagnoses. For many people, mental health concerns can happen following traumatic events like natural disasters or car accidents. It is also important to know that there are populations that are at greater risk for mental health challenges. For many people, the symptoms of mental health concerns may clear in a couple weeks, however if symptoms last longer than two weeks, it is important for that person to consider seeking professional help. Some warning signs a person might be struggling with are:
Eating or sleeping too much or too little
Anger, feeling edgy or lashing out at others
Pulling away from people and things
Not connecting with others
Lack of energy or always feeling tired
Having unexplained aches and pains, such as constant stomach-aches or headaches
Seriously trying to harm oneself, or making plans to do so
Sudden overwhelming fear for no reason, sometimes with a racing heart or fast breathing
Involvement in many fights or desire to badly hurt others
Severe out-of-control behavior that can hurt oneself or others
Not eating, throwing up, or using laxatives to make oneself lose weight
Intense worries or fears that get in the way of daily activities
Extreme difficulty concentrating or staying still that puts the student in physical danger or causes problems in the classroom
Repeated use of drugs or alcohol
Severe mood swings that cause problems in relationships
Drastic changes in the student's behavior or personality
Attend or participate in mental health awareness trainings/webinars. There are many organizations and agencies that lead mental health trainings, both here in Cleveland County and virtually. It can be understandably difficult for educators to find time to attend trainings, so if it is important to you to receive these trainings, consider asking your administration if you can invite an agency or organization to your school to share information with the staff. Some organizations and agencies that offer training are:
The Mental Health Association of Cleveland County (local): We offer Community Resiliency Model (CRM), QPR Suicide Prevention Training, and mental health educational trainings. Trainings are scheduled based on need, so email us at egrimsley@clevelandcountymha.org or ttolbert@clevelandcountymha.org to set one up!
Partners BHM (local): Partners offers a wide range of mental health related trainings each month and many are offered virtually. Be sure to check them out each month to see what they have to offer!
Mental Health America (national): MHA National offers webinars throughout the month and also saves their recordings of previous webinars for the public to view later if they missed one. Visit the link and be sure to select “webinar” under “type” to find those recordings.
If you know of additional educational resources, email us and we will add them to this post.
Talk about your concerns for students when they come up. If you notice something going on concerning a student, speak up. We have obvious routes as mandated reporters to discuss concerns of neglect or abuse, but it may not feel so obvious to bring up mental health concerns.
Work through a trauma-informed lens. To be trauma-informed is to acknowledge that trauma is widespread and impacts both individuals and communities broadly, even years after the traumatic event has occurred, and can play a role in a person’s development, health, and well-being. Trauma can inform how someone moves through the world and their interactions with others. Trauma and its effect on people is an extensive topic, and far too nuanced to cover in this blog. If you’d like to learn more, we discussed trauma in this blog, but you can also learn more about trauma from these resources:
Attend a Community Resiliency Model (CRM) Training - both Partners BHM and MHA Cleveland County host CRM trainings.
Mental Health Support in the Classroom
Be supportive in the classroom. Use the information you learn and apply them to the classroom, especially those tools that build emotional competency and build resilience. Students learn from the adults in their lives, so modeling behavior that is emotionally intelligent and resilence-focused will teach the youth in your life how to develop those skills too. What does it mean to be emotionally intelligent and resilience-focused?
If you lash out when you feel overwhelmed/angry/upset, consider learning coping skills to help you (CRM is a great training for this - learn more about resiliency skills at ichillapp.com). Once you know them, model them and avoid taking out your feelings on students. The more you use skills to help you regulate your emotions, the more naturally they’ll come to you, and the more examples of emotional intelligence your students will have.
Check out this video library for strategies for creating a supportive classroom environment.
Teach and reinforce decision-making skills.
Encourage your students to help others.
Encourage you students and praise their achievements, even if they seem small.
Advocate for or Promote school-based mental health supports for students. Needs may vary from school-to-school, but it is important to identify and address them as they come up. Recognize when students are at risk for or are experiencing mental health concerns and use that as a jumping off point. Consider ways to center student voices and empower students to bring up issues to the appropriate channels (principal, school board, etc.).
Learn about more school-based mental health programming here.
Find guides and tools for promoting student mental health here.
Read this guide on implementing school mental health supports.
Encourage open dialogue. Give students a safe place to discuss their feelings and worries. Establish supports in the classroom through class agreements, having mental health resources readily available, and providing a listening ear when a student approaches you with concerns. By normalizing mental health in the classroom, students will be more likely to reach out when they need help.
Include mindfulness/stress-reduction tools in the classroom. At strategic times of the day (beginning of class, after lunch or recess, after a class transition, or whatever times work for your school schedule), include practices that center mindfulness and stress-reduction. This can be as simple as taking a few minutes to practice deep breathing, meditation, offering coloring sheets, creating “break” corners where students can take a breather, or providing low-distraction fidget options in class.
Part II: Supporting Educator Mental Health
Teaching is one of the most stressful jobs in the country (source), but if you’re an educator reading this, you probably know that already. In fact, 61% of teachers in 2017 reported that work was “always” or “often” stressful (source). Since then, educators have been struggling with more stressors than ever. Many feel tired and disengaged, which affects how you show up in the classroom.
One thing we’ve mentioned over and over is the effectiveness of modeling. Supporting your own mental health can help you avoid burnout, make you a better, more present educator, and help you act as a model for your students when they look to adults to learn how to manage their own stress. Plus, when teacher wellness is prioritized, it has been linked to teaching effectiveness and student achievement (source).
Many suggestions for alleviating the stressors of teaching often include self-care. It is true that self-care can be an incredibly effective tool to improving overall mental health, however there are other issues impacting teachers that must also be addressed in order to reasonably reduce stress in schools.
Research suggests that key sources of stress that impacts teachers are “high-stakes job demands, limited resources and professional autonomy, and negative school climate” (source). For example:
In the last decade or so, teachers’ professional success has been measured based on student performance in standardized testing.
Teachers are often expected to manage and navigate student behavior and complex family dynamics.
Teachers are expected to manage the academic success of their students, who each have unique educational needs and learning styles, yet are underpaid, underfunded, and lack the resources necessary to equip students with the skills they need.
Teachers “are less likely than any other professional group to report feeling that their opinions matter at work” (source).
Unmet student needs at home (e.g., trauma and lack of resources) puts pressure on the teacher, who is often the first to notice something is wrong, to get help for their students. However, teachers then become either a primary support for the student and/or are unable to help meet their students’ needs (such as in communities where there already is a lack of resources), which can be emotionally taxing.
Support for teachers and improving their wellness must first be addressed institutionally, rather than individually, or else we will lose teachers and our students will fall between the gaps.
What are Warning Signs for Mental Health Concerns in Educators?
Warning signs for more serious mental health concerns and symptoms of normal stress can be similar. Presence of multiple symptoms or symptoms that last longer than two weeks can be a sign that it is time to get support from a mental health provider. Here are some warning signs that indicate an educator might be experiencing too much stress/a mental health concern (source):
Resistance or refusal to take breaks during the work day
Excessive worrying or fear
Feeling excessively sad or low
Confused thinking or problems concentrating
Extreme mood changes
Prolonged or strong feelings of irritability or anger
Avoiding colleagues and social activities
Difficulties understanding or relating to other people
Feeling tired and having low energy
Feeling numb or like nothing matters
Feeling helpless or hopeless
Changes in eating habits such as increased hunger or lack of appetite
Difficulty perceiving reality (delusions or hallucinations)
Inability to perceive changes in one’s own feelings, behavior, or personality
Substance abuse
Multiple physical ailments without obvious causes (such as headaches, stomach aches, vague and ongoing “aches and pains”)
Suicidal thoughts
Inability to carry out daily tasks
Ways to Help Yourself
There are a few ways to add safeguards to your mental health as a teacher:
Set and keep your boundaries with students, parents, and the workplace. Remember that you are not on the clock all hours of the day and do not need to be available outside of work hours. Include in your communications with parents what times you are available for them to reach you or alternative methods of communicating with you when parents need to reach you when you’re off the clock (such as emails you can check on when you’re back at work). Also keep in mind that boundaries exist both in the personal and professional realms and are different for everyone. Boundaries are safeguards you put in place to ensure you can support yourself and show up for others. Take time considering them and developing them. If you need a guide for developing and understanding your boundaries, click here.
Keep up with things that help you feel physically good. Make sure you’re eating and drinking enough water during the day, get enough sleep, and take breaks when you need it. Mental wellness is connected to our physical health.
Check in on and connect with other teachers. Building relationships with other teachers will help you feel less alone and expand your network of support when you need it. Showing up for each other sincerely can help when someone is especially struggling. If you find another teacher struggling, talk to them and offer support, help them find resources to help them, and spend time with them so they know they’re not alone. Also keep in mind that shared experience can bring you closer with your colleagues and create strong social connections.
Express gratitude. It may be hard, but finding ways to express gratitude, even privately, can be immensely helpful. Try writing three things you’re thankful for each day (it can be as simple as “I’m thankful for the sunny day”). You can also thank your coworkers when they help you or make your day easier or thank students and their parents when it is appropriate. Showing gratitude in these simple ways can help boost your mood (source).
Don’t be ashamed to seek help when you need it. People carry a lot of shame around their mental health and are afraid to seek help when they need it. Remember that just like we sometimes need to visit a medical doctor to address physical health, we sometimes need to speak with a mental health professional to cope with things impacting our mental health. It’s worth seeking help if you realize you’re struggling. If you believe you need help, start here.
Ways Administrators Can Support Teachers
If you are administrator noticing stress or mental health concerns among your educators, there are a few things you can do to take action:
Speak openly about mental health. Share resources with your staff, don’t be afraid of discussions on topics that impact your workers’ mental health, normalize mental health struggles by adapting the work culture to be supportive of mental health.
Provide mental health training and development opportunities to staff (and attend them yourself). There are several agencies and organizations that offer trainings on mental health, including MHA Cleveland County and Partners. Reach out to agencies like these to schedule trainings for the workplace. Trainings will help build awareness and make your teachers more equipped to handle student mental health that impacts the school day. Other opportunities could be more wellness focused, such as bringing in someone who can teach yoga, guided meditation, or other practices that could be helpful for teachers.
Build mental health supports into the workplace. Consider developing a support group for teachers at your school that are facilitated by a counselor, community health partner, or another qualified mental health professional. Provide or have resources readily accessible in staff areas. See if you can provide mental health days and encourage your staff to use them.
Listen to your staff. When teachers bring issues to you, listen to them and try to help them find a solution. Do not dismiss them or invalidate them. If you can’t do something to help them, try to find avenues to get them the support they need, but center their voice in the process.
