How would you describe your glass?

I’m sure many of you have seen the video showing the story of a psychologist talking about the stress and anxiety that we carry around with us every day. When asked that question, the audience responses varied between 100g and 500g but she explained that the actual weight was not significant. What matters is how long you have to hold the glass. Holding it for a few minutes is easy, but holding it for a longer and the aches and pains begin; leading to numbness and simply giving up holding it.

The same is true of any worry, stress or anxiety. By providing support when the stresses begin we can manage the severe consequences before they arise. In a time when support for mental health is almost at zero and crisis point is required before some external support is accessible, providing outlets for that stress is increasingly important.

I’m not necessarily just referring to students in this story as staff wellbeing is vital. With teachers leaving the profession because of workload, lack of work life balance, increasing accountability and changes to our education system, we need to make sure that our staff find a way to offload and put the glass down.

I know that it doesn’t make the work go away but simply by knowing that someone else knows you are struggling can make that glass seem a little lighter. For our students, our Pastoral Managers are an essential outlet for that and having access to a counsellor is so crucial. We are generally really good at spotting the signs of struggling students and are quick to put support in place. Maybe we (I might just be talking about me) aren’t so quick to react to colleagues who are showing signs of stress.

I love reading the stories on @staffrm‍ about #teacher5aday‍ where teachers across the country are making sure that they look after themselves. I want to make sure that I take that into my school and ask my colleagues how heavy their glass is. Maybe I could hold it, just for a short while, and take the load off.