Mental Health isn’t a tick box exercise

I hear so much talk about mental health at the moment. It is almost the latest trend.

How much of what is happening is really meaningful and how much is just box ticking though?

I have visited some incredible schools recently who, following my training, have made some really meaningful changes. Not just support their pupils’ wellbeing, but also, more importantly it could be argued, staff wellbeing.

If teachers are over-worked, unappreciated and run down, they don’t deliver the best education to our children.

So many teachers I know have said to me over the years; “Oh yeah, we had someone come into our school and talk about mindfulness. They gave us loads of things we had to try and find time for and then we went straight from that to a meeting about how much paperwork we need to have in for tomorrow!”. (I’m paraphrasing but you get the idea!).

Mental Health isn’t just an issue for our students

When we discuss wellbeing and mental health issues in relation to schools the focus is almost always on the children. This is great, our children have never needed support with their wellbeing more, but there is also a requirement for schools to care for the mental health of their staff. I’m hoping that this isn’t news to…