Teaching Stress
Remember Carecall this upcoming academic year
Stress and depression were once considered stigmatic topics in the workplace but, today, there is a greater emphasis on open discussion around issues that affect mental health and wellbeing.
A study, published in December 2011, looking at workplace stress in teachers highlighted that the major factors that caused workplace stress were:
- Boundaries – constant worrying about legalities and school policies when it came to providing students with a more personal, caring teacher.
- Classroom management – having to keep control of classrooms, deal with incidents of verbal and physical abuse, and reprimanding badly behaved pupils appropriately.
- Workload – managing a hidden workload including lesson planning, paper marking, parent evenings and extra-curricular activities.
- Support structures – not feeling comfortable presenting personal incidents of stress to school principals.
Prolonged occupational stress can lead to mental and physical ill health, which can lead to a de-motivated workforce and a rise in absenteeism. However; there are coping mechanisms available to assist teachers in combating work related stress. This can be something as simple as teachers discussing issues with one another before problems escalate. Principals are also capable of providing their staff with the training necessary for them to perform their jobs without stress and by promoting the use of the available Employee Assistance Programme (EAP).
Carecall provides an EAP to all teaching and non- teaching staff across Northern Ireland – the counselling service offers a 24/7 365 day confidential self- referred Helpline and up to six face-to-face sessions with a Carecall professional counsellor, all of whom are experienced in a wide range of issues. Carecall is a nonprofit organisation and a subsidiary of Niamh (Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health) – contact us on 0808 800 0002 if you just want to chat about any difficulties you are experiencing or e-mail us at support@carecallwellbeing.com
Quotes on Carecall EAP from teachers:
“I felt the service was excellent and caring & especially the administration- that I had my first session booked within 24hours. The counsellor really helped me talk which I would have found difficult.”
“I was very satisfied by the quality of the service provided by Carecall. The counsellor was excellent. I would have been happy to continue on a private basis.”
“I found the service very beneficial. It took me 3 years to actually make the call. I suppose in teaching compared to other jobs I have done you do give a lot and your focus is on the children and their families and you take home some of their sadness anxiety and some of their joy. It was a service that gave me time to focus on myself and spring clean my life. It is tough but I feel I have made a good start. I feel better and I can give more to my students I teach.”
