Supporting Teachers’ Mental Health and Wellness

As a mental health speaker, I give presentations—both in person and virtually—and talk to people all over the world. I’ve been in schools talking to educators, administrators, staff, and students, and I’ve seen the challenges you’re facing.

Since the pandemic began, educators have been asked to fit more and more onto their already overflowing plates. I’ve talked to many educators who are feeling exhausted and overwhelmed. So I wanted to create a course just for educators, to help you discover the gift of emotional wellness.

Teachers are struggling with mental health and wellness

The CDC Foundation recently found that “27% of teachers self-reported symptoms consistent with clinical depression and 37% self-reported symptoms consistent with generalized anxiety.” In addition, more than half of teachers have started considering changing careers more seriously since the pandemic began—but you likely already know that.

According to a study released by the RAND Corporation, about one-third of educators said they worked 56 hours or more a week. And in a recent survey that my company conducted, nearly half the educators responded that the emotion they felt the most over the past two weeks was anxious or worried.

If you’re feeling this way or you’re just plain worn out, again, you are not alone.

So before we go any further, I want to take a moment to say thank you. Thank you for everything you do for your students. I know you’re in the education profession because you care. You love your students and want to support their needs. But the simple fact is, love isn’t enough. You cannot pour from an empty cup.

When you give everything you have to your students, leaving nothing for yourself, you are on your way to burnout.

Help for burned-out teachers

Encouraging people to practice self-care has become popular over the last two years. This is because self-care habits help people feel their best and cope with the stress and anxiety of daily life and challenging situations. But if you’re like the educators I’ve been hearing from, talking about self-care when you don’t have time for self-care can feel inauthentic and like “lip service.”

The people encouraging you to practice self-care are the same ones piling more work on you and increasing expectations of what you can accomplish. You work long hours in the classroom with no real breaks. When the bell rings, your day is far from over. You still have papers to grade and lesson plans to prepare. And that’s not considering all the other things you need to do and relationships to care for outside of work.

Self-care might sound like more of a fairytale to you than practical steps that can help you feel better. After all, it doesn’t do any good to put down a yoga mat if the house is on fire. First, we need to work on putting out the fire.

It’s time to Fill Your Cup

As an educator, your cup may be empty or close to it. After pouring yourself into your job and your students, little is often left in that cup for you, your family, and others. It may have led you to question your career choice and possibly your true passion and purpose in life. Filling your cup can be challenging, but it can be done.

This professional development for teachers course will give you the tools to fill your cup and restore your hope in being an educator. It will share real, proven techniques and exercises that are customizable for YOU. And most importantly, the information and tips shared in the course have been vetted by classroom educators like yourself.

Throughout the course, we’ll cover:

• Reconnecting with why you went into teaching
• Letting go of worry and making the most of your time
• Coping ahead, so you don’t reach your “breaking point”
• Real-life self-care habits that work for teachers
• Supporting your students’ emotional wellness
• Signs a student needs immediate help
• Cultivating belonging and promoting wellness in the classroom
• How to involve parents and guardians in the conversation

You and the work you do matters

In my younger years, I had what you call behavior problems. I was angry all the time, and I acted out violently. I didn’t have a name for it at the time, but I know now that I was struggling with depression and anxiety. But to my teachers, it just looked like I was a problem child. I was that kid. The one teachers hope they don’t get in their classroom.

I was hospitalized for mental health challenges for the first time at age nine. I attempted to die by suicide at age ten. By the end of tenth grade, I’d been hospitalized three times, I was self-harming, and I had just been expelled from my third school.

Throughout this time, playing the drums was the one thing that would calm me down and make me feel really happy. Eventually, my mother managed to get me into the Long Island High School for the Arts, and the teachers there created a turning point in my life.

They all went out of their way to give me passes to leave class and play drums. When I was anxious or upset, I could play the drums and calm myself down. This was the best type of therapy I could possibly receive. The teachers at the school responded to me with empathy. My grades went up. There was no more acting out, no more hospitalizations, and no more self-harming or attempts to die by suicide. Those last two years of high school were life-changing for me. I started to see a future for myself—one where I could actually be happy.

That’s the difference teachers can make. That’s the difference you make.

But it’s challenging to be there for students in the way you desire when your cup is empty. So, I invite you to take the Fill Your Cup course to rediscover your passion and learn practical ways to experience emotional wellness. Teachers helped make the difference I needed in my life, and I hope this course helps make the difference you need in yours.