How much spare time do you have as a teacher? The answer, often, is not a lot. There’s no time for a proper lunch, marking goes into the evenings, and planning takes over Sunday mornings. So, when teachers are told that they need to “make time” to put themselves first, and to look after their own mental health and wellbeing above everything else, it’s not surprising when the response is: “I haven’t got time for that!”

That, Dr Radha Modgil says, is a big problem. Modgil is the medical expert for BBC Radio 1, and she wants teachers to take care of themselves. 

“Ask yourself: what’s going to happen if you don’t make time to do this? I find it helpful to look at the consequences of inaction: my mental health will get worse, my physical health will get worse, I’ll get more stressed, I won’t be able to cope,” she says.

“If you follow that train of thought, you don’t want the outcome. You’ve got to find a way to make a little bit of time for yourself. It’s about recognising that priority. Without their physical, emotional and mental health, teachers won’t be able to do their job, they won’t be the kind of teacher they want to be for their pupils, and that’s unsustainable.”

• Teacher mental health: 9 must-read guides on wellbeing
• How to make it to Christmas without burning out
• How bad for your mental health is teaching?

Messages that teachers need to, for example, find time to exercise more and to eat well for the good of their physical and mental health may be important. However, Modgil adds, the key to looking after yourself is being realistic. 

“It’s about working out what is manageable,” she says. “If you can’t go out for a run at lunchtime, can you go for a five-minute walk before work, or on your way to work? Can you change something about your lifestyle that’s going to help you to get out there and get active even if it’s not what you would ideally want?

“Are there small steps you can take with other people, too? Could you weave that into your school day with other colleagues? Could you set up a wellbeing group at school with other teachers who can help support you and maintain that focus? Setting sustainable goals is really important.”  

Another option is to find ways of working wellbeing strategies into your lessons, she continues. This has the double benefit of not only supporting teacher mental health, but supporting pupils’ mental health as well. Taking some time each day to work on wellbeing together is a great approach, she says, as children learn by example. 

“Teachers are the ultimate role model for children, and they are the best-placed people to actually enact wellbeing strategies, not just for themselves, but also with the children in their class,” she says. “Teachers then give children the permission to feel their feelings, and to take time for their mental health. There needs to be a collaborative approach.”

Teacher mental health: finding your inner power

So what strategies for fostering good mental health does the doctor want teachers to know about? Well, they all centre around the idea of “inner power”. This might sound a bit woolly, but Modgil explains, it is actually just about keeping yourself centred when everything around feels out of control and uncertain. 

“You need to recognise that all of the chaos that’s going on in the world is out of your control. What you can control, however, is how you respond to that. We can do that by understanding there’s something in us all, an inner power, which is formed of many different elements. Things like choice, self-awareness and action, for example. When things happen in life, we need to find that inner power and enact it.”

But how, exactly, can teachers find, and “enact” their inner power? Here are five strategies that Modgil recommends. 

Have awareness

When difficult things are happening, it’s easy to get swept away by the chaos and panic, says Modgil. It’s normal to go into denial mode and distract ourselves to avoid the pain. 

“We need to recognise that we have the ability to stop, breathe and to ask: what’s happened to me? What is happening around me? What are the actual problems here? And then how can I be more aware of what is either falling apart around me or changing around me?” she says.

“We need to realise we can’t actually do anything to change what’s going on. That realisation sounds very simple, but a lot of people bury their heads in the sand and carry on.” 

To help, Modgil recommends talking to those around you that you trust, listening to what they’ve got to say, and getting their perspective. Once you’ve done that, you should get some time and space to yourself: turn off the noise, reflect on what’s happening, and own your emotions. 

“This is also about having an awareness when your emotions are overwhelming you. When things are difficult, we can go into a mode of fight, flight and freeze. So we need to recognise when fear is actually leading our reactions, instead of responding in a measured way,” she says.

In the classroom, then, teachers and students should work together to gain perspective around control when it comes to chaotic global events, like new Covid restrictions being put in place. Having conversations about what is in our control and what isn’t is crucial, as is taking 10 minutes to sit silently and reflect. This could be done outside in the playground, or in the classroom. 

Self-express challenging feelings

The second strategy is about allowing ourselves to express challenging feelings. Here, Modgil says our inner power lies in not pushing away the feelings of anxiety, sadness, anger and frustration. Trying to bury them won’t make them disappear, she explains; they need to be addressed. 

“Naming the emotion you are feeling is so powerful. If you feel angry, say ‘I am feeling angry’ rather than ‘I am angry’. This creates some distance and space between you and the emotion,” she says.

“Then, make the active choice to express that emotion in a healthy way. If you’re sad, allow yourself to cry. If you’re angry, do some high-intensity exercise or sing really loudly. It sounds really simple but it’s very important to choose the right way and healthy way to express it. It helps us to process things so much quicker.”

With the children in their class, teachers should be open about their own emotions and encourage their pupils to do the same. For the negative emotions, you could assign an exercise that helps children to express themselves, like running or crying as Modgil suggests. 

A worry period

It’s really tough to accept when something is beyond our control - but there are things we can do to alleviate these frustrations, says Modgil. Think about what you can do - practical problem-solving, writing lists, getting organised and finding out information - and act on it. She also suggests a “worry period” every day, which could easily be replicated in the classroom. 

“Create a ‘worry period’ every day where you allow yourself to worry for 10 minutes, but the rest of the time you save those worries up for that 10 minutes and you don’t worry about them for the rest of the day,” she says. “Take part in things like breathing techniques, meditation and mindfulness. This can be things like being out in nature, gardening, drawing, painting - any exercise that helps us to let go of thoughts that are overwhelming.”

Sometimes, we do need distraction, she says. While we shouldn’t avoid dealing with things altogether, there needs to be healthy boundaries around work. 

“Turn your emails off your phone, get rid of notifications, set clear boundaries in when you start and stop work. Get yourself away from that boundary and do something that is totally new and unrelated so you literally can’t think about work at all,” she says. 

Don’t forget about joy

When you’re going through a difficult time, we naturally fall into a mindset of “I’ve got to fix this, this is so awful”, says Modgil. But, you need to remember how to comfort yourself and how to reassure yourself. 

“Often, when we talk about emotional comfort for young children or puppies, but actually, adults need to learn to comfort themselves. So what does that emotional kind of comfort look like to you? What’s that reassurance? Where’s your safe place? What kind of activities can you do to help yourself feel emotionally safe and secure?” she says.

Finding joy in other parts of your life, things to be hopeful for, and focusing on your sense of purpose are really helpful, too, she says. 

“Teachers are working so hard, there’s so much uncertainty and you get kind of hit from all angles or directions. You start thinking, ‘What am I doing this for? What is this all about?’ Take the time to remember the child who said thank you or the one who really engaged with your lesson. Do things that remind you of why you become a teacher in the first place. That’s really important.”

Say ‘well done’ to yourself

The last strategy, Modgil says, sounds easy enough, but is something we all forget to do. It’s about saying ‘well done’ to yourself. This could be done as a reflection exercise at the end of every school day or week. 

“None of us says it enough, and we’re very critical of ourselves. We need to give ourselves positive feedback. Take the time to congratulate yourself, write down what you’ve managed to achieve today. Be gentle with yourself and think about the language you use,” she says. 

“You don’t need to just remember the things that have gone right, but the challenging situation you got through, no matter what the outcome. It’s easy to say well done to yourself when everything goes smoothly, but recognise the importance of trying your best, even if things haven’t gone to plan.” 

Dr Radha Modgil is an ambassador for Now and Beyond, 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