Mental health awareness week: look after your staff
Mental health awareness week: look after your staff
Mental health awareness week occurs on 15th-21st of May every year. The week aims to support and spread awareness of mental health issues and what we can do to help each other and ourselves. As an SBM it is not only vital to look after your own mental health but also to be there and look after your staff. To help you achieve this and support your staff with mental health, we have sourced some ways to implement mental health and wellbeing strategies for your staff.
Why is staff wellbeing important?
Staff wellbeing is very important in schools as if your staff are struggling, it can hugely impact the education of students as well as their wellbeing too. Plus, unhappy staff are unmotivated and more likely to leave their jobs when it gets too much. As an SBM you need to ensure that you support your staff and let the know that you are there for them if they are struggling
If staff are unhappy then absences to avoid work can rise and they can feel like you aren’t there for them and so won’t feel comfortable opening up and getting help from you either.
How to help your staff
There are many ways that you can help your staff with their mental health. To help you look after your staff, we have sourced a few ways to help them that can be implemented in your school. These ways shouldn’t just be used for mental health awareness week. You should also carry this on afterwards and continue to review the strategies and update them if needed.
Create an action plan
A wellness action plan is a great tool for SBMs to use for their staff. It helps you to initiate conversations around your staff's wellbeing and how you can improve the overall wellbeing in the school. This action plan is accessible to all not only those who struggle with their mental health. Having an action plan for your staff assists you with identifying what keeps your staff well at work, which areas causes them to become unwell and advice on how to address mental health problems for both you and your staff to approach you.
From this action plan, you will be able to support your staff’s mental health better and make changes if something is evidently wrong. You will also be able to keep track of each member of staff and how they are doing, which enables you to offer the correct steps to aid their mental wellbeing when needed.
Be positive
One of the best ways you can look after your staff is by being positive yourself. Not only does being positive encourage your staff to have a positive outlook in work, but it also allows you to see what your staff can do. Being positive gives you the power to see the positive aspects of your staff and what they are excelling in as a whole rather than only seeing the negatives. Doing this helps your own mental wellbeing as well as your staff’s and allows you to make positive decisions and changes creating a happier work environment.
It can be difficult to have a positive outlook when your job role is demanding and challenging. However, to spread positivity, practice mindfulness so you can have a better outlook and share that with your staff. Stock up on mindfulness books for yourself and your staff to use and allow your staff to share mindfulness with their students too.
Adjustments
Adjustments are usually simple, cost-effective and beneficial to your staff’s mental health. There are small adjustments you can make to improve mental wellbeing and staff morale. However, it is imperative to discuss with your staff individually what you can do to help their mental health. This is because everyone is different, and it is difficult to know exactly what would benefit individuals. It is particularly crucial to do this with members of staff who are struggling with their mental health.
A few examples of minor changes you can make are:
- Renovating their workspace
- Extension of break times
- Creating a quiet room
- Tweaks to hours if needed
- Tweaks to sick leave if needed
- Time off for appointments correlated to mental health if needed
- Reviewing and amending their workload.
Talk about feelings
Talking about feelings with your staff helps them to stay in good mental health and feel supported by you. They will start to build trust and feel like they can come to you when they have a problem. This helps the workplace be a happier place. Ensure to make your staff feel comfortable around you and let the know you are there for them to talk to. Confine in your staff as well and be open about your feelings and mental health struggles related to work to encourage your staff to do the same.
Talking about feelings is vital for everyone so make sure that this aspect of looking after your staff extends to your students. Encourage teachers to openly talk to their students about emotions. Supply them with plenty of emotion resources for children to understand their own feelings and others.
Keep in touch
Relationships are vital to our mental health, and this is an essential aspect that is needed within the workplace. It may be impossible to choose who you work with, but if staff don’t get on with each other or with you, then this can cause a lot of friction which can lead to poor mental health.
If difficulties like this arise, keep in touch with your staff and allow them to air their differences (even if it is about you). Encourage work friendships as everyone needs someone or a group of people to talk to about work-related issues. Doing this ensures that your staff can talk to someone as they may not feel comfortable enough to talk to you.
Listen actively
The best way to support and improve your staff’s mental health is to actively listen to them. Be present and engaged with your staff, especially when they are expressing their issues or feelings. Take on board what they say and make the necessary changes or steps to show that they are valued and that you have listened.
Try and keep eye contact with your staff unless this makes someone uncomfortable, it is a clear sign that you are listening to them. Alongside this, open up your body language and turn towards the person who’s speaking to you as this is another visual indication to them that you care.
When it’s appropriate to do so, ask direct questions without trying to get more information than the person is willing to give. This shows a keen interest and helps you to understand your staff’s feelings further to take the appropriate action.
Use these methods during mental health awareness week and beyond. Ensure to regularly check in with your staff and update strategies to help them. It is important to look after your staff by being available and approachable so they feel comfortable around you and to raise any issue that may be affecting them.
For further information and support to look after your staff, take a look at Mind. They have multiple advice and resources you can use and implement to improve your staff’s mental health.
To be able to help your staff you must also be in a good position with your own mental health. To help manage your mental health and de-stress, read our part two of tips for managing your mental health blog.
