Writing & talking abt these topics has resulted in so many of you sending me articles:
Some alarming, some uplifting, some warnings. Recently you’ve sent me: articles on the nefarious actions of large telehealth apps…to the way controversial topics have been put in your feed (w very damaging & triggering language).
I give that bkgrnd bc – btwn the general posts on overall MH messaging, I gotta pick/choose what may be most relevant & applicable from the news stories you share/are in my own searches. This recent article from The Guardian stuck out to me.
Most all of us are connected to schools in some way: we’re teachers, married to ‘em, have parents or fam who are teachers…have kids in school/nieces & nephews. Bottom line: if our teachers aren’t healthy, there’s no way the health (or performance) of our kids/students can be optimized.
Teachers w unaddressed & accumulated stress & trauma cannot possibly/effectively handle kids – we know are coming in w their share of stress & trauma from home/the school yard. That’s not an indictment…It’s reality. Ever gotten into a heated convo w a fam member & you both are in your fear/anger brains? Not pretty.
So when children are presenting behaviors related to events in their lives – divorces of parents, bullying, loved ones lost…& teachers are dealing w much of their own – w now the added pressure of “making up the learning loss” from the p@ndemIc, the results are often toxic.
The data from this article came in response to freedom of info requests provided by 143 education authorities in England & Wales. In total, over 7 mill teacher days were lost to stress & MH issues in the past 5yrs. Relative growth of that #? ~20% yr over yr for the past 5 yrs.
Our partnered SameHere Schools have grown 3x in the last 3 yrs. Biggest thing we’re noticing anecdotally? Teacher burnout. No question. We HAVE to start prioritizing teacher MH. We create teacher STARR rooms…have SameHere Sound Offs w teachers & our social workers, prioritize teacher MH education.
Our kids MATTER, but if you don’t have healthy adults, it’s hard to have healthy children. Let’s care for our teachers too.