To support staff wellbeing, show that you ‘CARE’

Staff wellbeing is integral to promoting a whole-school or whole-college approach to mental health and wellbeing.

According to the recent Tes Wellbeing Report, an increase in workload and a dip in confidence has had a profound impact on teachers over the past two years.

Even before the pandemic, research by the Health and Safety Executive found that teaching staff and education professionals had the highest rates of work-related stress, depression and anxiety in Britain. 

This is why at the Anna Freud Centre, we have included staff wellbeing in our five steps to a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing. Arguably it should be the first step, but of course sometimes it can feel impossible to prioritise when leaders are fire-fighting the challenges of daily school life.

Historically, there may have been pressure points within the academic year that are particularly challenging for school leaders and school staff. However, for many working on the frontline in schools, it feels that the last two years have been one constant pressure point as we cope with the ongoing impact of the pandemic.

To help provide support, we wanted to consider some practical and genuinely workable strategies that can be implemented by senior staff in any school or college.

In doing so, we developed the mnemonic CARE, which stands for: be curious, be approachable, refer when you need to, and show empathy. It was developed first to help with student wellbeing but the principles are just as important and can be applied equally when it comes to supporting staff wellbeing.  

Here’s how we can apply the four CARE principles to the important job of supporting staff wellbeing.

1. Be curious

One of the most challenging aspects of being a school leader is not being able to implement the changes that you know are needed, because you haven’t got access to the resources that you need.

This can be especially true when thinking about staff wellbeing. When this happens, it is important to recognise that even keeping staff wellbeing on the agenda can be powerful.

Offer plenty of opportunities for staff to talk about what aspects of work are having a negative impact on their wellbeing. We recommend conducting an annual staff wellbeing survey and sharing the results with staff.

You can find lots of support for doing this and for the development of a whole-school approach towards mental health and wellbeing in our free five-step framework.

2. Be approachable

Active listening is the starting place for any productive conversation about wellbeing. Many headteachers set aside a small pocket of time every week that staff can “book” to meet with them and share concerns and anxieties.

However, line managers may not always be best placed to have these reflective conversations with staff. Many schools have found that providing supervision or formalised reflective spaces can be powerful.

By supervision we mean a regular, safe time and place for school staff to reflect critically, discuss and talk through their work and the impact the work is having on them.

These conversations are not part of performance management but about a non-managerial, collaborative relationship with the focus on empathy and shared understanding.

It is a term that is better understood by people within the social work or clinical practice fields, and we may have some way to go to build understanding of its purpose and value within schools, but some schools have already found that supervision has real potential to meet the need expressed by many school staff for peer or social support.

3. Refer when you need to

Of course, school leaders are rarely responsible for referring staff to services provided by mental health professionals, but they can be important providers of signposting to mental health and wellbeing support, when appropriate.

This can include a staff wellbeing pathway within your mental health and wellbeing policy so that staff are clear on how best to navigate their own way to support, both inside and outside school.

School leaders have a duty to know how their staff can access specialist support - for example, access to employee assistance programmes or support in times of crisis - and to share this information with individual staff members and in places where all staff can find it.

For further examples of staff wellbeing support, look at our Supporting Staff Wellbeing in Schools booklet.

In society as a whole, one possible silver lining of the undoubted impact of the pandemic on wellbeing is an increased readiness to talk about mental health.

Ensure staff know of a range of ways to reach out, in whatever way feels most appropriate to them. Remind staff of support options on a regular basis, and not as a tokenistic gesture. A colleague could lead on this as a regular update in staff emails or briefings.

4. Show empathy

A school leader showing empathy can be incredibly reassuring for staff struggling with their wellbeing.

Empathy is not just about being kind or agreeing, it is also about allowing different viewpoints to be shared and opening up opportunities for things to be different. It is helpful to acknowledge current difficulties; this can validate people’s experiences, making them feel empowered to face challenges.

The notion of self-empathy can be helpful: the idea that when trying to support others it is helpful to notice and recognise what is happening in you. It allows you to make more full use of past and current experiences when navigating challenges.

Self-empathy is not the same as self-compassion. Showing kindness to yourself as a leader and modelling self-care and self-compassion sends a direct message to your staff that safeguarding your mental health is a key component to protecting your own wellbeing, and they can follow your example.

Vicky Saward is head of training and Monisha Jefcut is training manager in the Schools Division at the Anna Freud Centre. They will speaking at the upcoming Now and Beyond event, the UK’s only mental health festival for educational settings. Tes is the official media partner for the event. For more information visit nowandbeyond.org.uk