World Mental Health Day

Supporting school staff with mental health

Edapt supports school staff everyday with issues facing their employment throughout England and Wales. Today is World Mental Health Day (#WorldMentalHealthDay) with the specific focus this year on suicide prevention. The day was set up by the World Federation for Mental Health and it was first celebrated in 1992.

We have seen an increase in cases at Edapt where teachers are facing issues with mental wellbeing, health and sickness absence. There are many different complex causes for this with a detrimental impact on the member of staff, school and the quality of education which pupils receive. There has been an increased focus in recent years of improving staff wellbeing with research from the Department for Education and Ofsted. The research shows that:

“Teachers are suffering from high workloads, lack of work-life balance, a perceived lack of resources and, in some cases, a perceived lack of support from senior managers, especially in managing pupils’ behaviour. They sometimes feel the profession does not receive the respect it deserves. All these negative feelings in turn may lead to higher levels of sickness absence.”

Mental health problems are very common

According to the Mental Health Foundation website, 1 in 6 people on the past week experienced a common mental health problem. Anxiety and depression are the most common problems with around 1 in 10 people affected at any one time. It explains that many people who live with a mental health problem or are developing one try to keep their feelings hidden because they are afraid of other people’s reactions.

A study by the Education Support Partnership explains that a total of 31% of teachers have experienced a mental health problem in the last academic year. The research also reveals the ways teachers cope with stress, with 47% turning to food, 32% to alcohol and 22% to unnecessary spending. Another 5% said they used drugs and 3% said they turned to gambling.

What to do if I need support?

If you are an Edapt subscriber you can contact one of our caseworkers for advice and support. You can also contact the Education Support Partnership if you are not an Edapt subscriber and need advice on your current situation.

We have also made all our support articles on the topic of ‘Health and well-being’ freely available to access.