The reality of school closures, the challenges of remote teaching and the realisation of the enormity of the fact that there are no exams are all weighing heavy on educators at this time.

Staff mental health and wellbeing is especially important now, in these destabilising and changing days and coaching and mentoring, whether from senior staff or peers, can go a long way to help us all stick together in this highly unusual time.

With teachers now working remotely or in settings that are now more about childcare than education, there is a lot to process. Looking out for each other and developing skills to get through this time will now be vital.

1. Use staff skills to share best practice

Are you a teacher or TA that has experience of remote teaching or have compiled home packs for pupils before? If so, your guidance and advice could be sorely needed by a colleague that has never planned for this previously and is silently struggling.

An offer to help them compile packs that will be sent home or a phone call to help set up remote technology could be the lifeline someone needs to feel less overwhelmed.

Schools should help with this by trying to provide a means for those with the skills to be able to help those who would benefit.

Mentoring is about advising and training a more inexperienced or newly qualified colleague by providing guidance, motivation and even emotional support at times. You may find that, in sharing your skills, you end up gaining new skills too.

2. Offer space to grow

No matter how much teaching experience we have, there are always dilemmas or issues that crop up and at the time seem insurmountable and overwhelming.

This leads to increased anxiety, exhaustion and even insomnia. The current situation is no doubt having this effect on many - but we mustn’t let it overwhelm us.

If you sense a colleague is feeling this way, try and offer them space where they are able to talk freely - on the phone, via email or, if safe to do so, in person, if both still in school. From here you can use the GROW method of questioning techniques devised by John Whitmore (1992) to encourage them to chat through their problems:

• G for goal: what do you want to achieve?
• R for reality: what is stopping you?
• O for options: what could you do? What else can you do?
• W for way forward: which option have you decided on? By when?

Using the GROW method gives a colleague space to identify where they want to be, vent their predicament and how to achieve their goal by determining what options they have available to them.

Lastly, they decide on the most feasible option then establish a plan of action to get there.

Having a structured response to teaching issues they are facing - however unique, challenging or seemingly impossible to solve - can help provide a calm, measured response that has the best chance possible of proving useful.

3. Don’t ignore concerns in these heightened times

If a colleague’s mental health is really concerning you then it’s important to signpost them to the professional help they’ll need such as occupational health or their GP.

As educators, we are working in challenging times but it’s more important than ever to look out for each other: share experiences and skills, work through barriers with each other to achieve goals and help colleagues get medical support if need be.

Be the person you needed when you were in their shoes - we’re all better together.

Antoinette Frearson works at a special school in Gloucestershire and is also doing a master’s in education (special education and inclusion). Find her on Twitter @AntoinetteFrea1