Teachers’ Mental Health: Warning Signs and How to Help
If you were asked to describe the current state of teachers’ mental health, what would you say?
Karla Duff, Organizer at the Iowa State Education Association (ISEA), did not hesitate when she responded. “I’m hearing ‘hectic, frantic, and exhausted’ from teachers,” she said, “and it’s not just their mental health. This applies to their physical health as well.”
Because Karla’s focus is on working with and organizing students, staff, and families to make the classroom a better place, we recently sat down with her to discuss what teachers are struggling with, warning signs that things are not good, and how to help.
The lack of resources and an increase in demands are hurting teachers
A lack of time, resources, and money are affecting teachers across the board.
“Most teaching contracts include an obligation to fulfill ‘other duties assigned’ and those ‘other duties’ are sinking a lot of our teachers,” Karla shared.
“There’s a continued shortage of teachers, paraprofessional teachers, and support staff,” she continued, “so a lot of teachers are being pulled out of their prep time to sub for teachers who are out sick. Giving up their prep time means they’re giving up their ‘breath time’ - the time that they’re not with students. Not having a break during the day is exhausting for them.”
The lack of money is a perennial issue. Karla pointed out that paraprofessional teachers are not being paid enough, so they are leaving to work in retail or restaurants where they can earn more per hour.
And then there are the district and state mandates that keep coming. “Here in Iowa, they’re rolling out a new software program for special ed teachers,” Karla explained. “Eventually it should be time-saving, but right now it’s requiring a lot of extra training time to bring everyone up to speed.”
Checking in on mental health should be done on regular basis
ELP Building Mentors and Virtual Instructional Coaches are well positioned to discuss mental health with their New Teacher mentees. Any teacher can do the same with their colleagues.
Younger teachers and educators are used to talking about mental health, but not everyone else is. “Make it normal,” Karla suggested. “Asking about mental health is not a one-and-done conversation. You can check in with humor, seriousness, reflection, or art, but check in every time you meet.”
A simple question to start with is, “What is happening?” “I don’t like to ask what is wrong,” Karla explained. “The word ‘wrong’ implies judgment, while ‘what is happening around you and within you’ can cover positive and not-so-positive things.”
You can also ask brief, open-ended questions in person or via text or instant message to gauge mental health in the moment:
What are two words that describe yourself right now?
What two colors are you?
What animal would you like to be right now?
If you were a candy bar, what would you be?
Bringing in neuroscience is another way of taking judgment out of the conversation. “The brain stem governs our survival while the prefrontal cortex handles problem-solving,” Karla pointed out. “If you are exhausted and overwhelmed, you will go into survival mode. So, if you’re facing challenges in the classroom, it could be because problem-solving is switched off.”
Warning signs that a teacher may need additional support
Teachers may need professional help if:
They have an overall feeling of exhausted fatigue. They’re not just tired - they are spent.
They are showing signs of depression, like not taking care of themselves, not showing interest in activities that normally bring joy, not completing tasks or avoiding activities, and putting themselves down.
They are struggling to remember things, pay attention or focus on a task.
They are showing physical symptoms, like sleeping all day, not sleeping at all, eating too much, eating too little, or living on coffee.
They are suffering from compassion fatigue, which means they have shut down emotionally and simply don’t care.
They don’t turn on their video camera during virtual one-on-one meetings.
Some teachers who are struggling may have forgotten why they became a teacher. In conversations with them, if you find that “why” is gone, let them know they can get it back with some outside help.
How to help your mentee or fellow teacher find support
In your building, start with the school counselor. As Karla pointed out, they counsel adults as much as kids.
At the district level, you can contact your Uniserv director, who often has even more resources at their disposal. And don’t forget about your state affiliate and the National Education Association (NEA). “The ISEA and NEA offer a lot of classes, workshops, and activities that are free for members,” Karla shared. “And the NEA has a great app called Sanvello that sends a daily check-in prompt.”
If your mentee or colleague is resisting getting professional help, Karla offers a gentle reminder: “We go to a doctor if we’re physically hurt, and we need to go to a doctor if we’re mentally or emotionally hurt. We also go to a doctor for physical checkups - it’s normal to do that for our emotional and mental health, too.”
“But I don’t have time,” they might say. “It’s one more thing I have to put on my plate.” In a case like that, Karla likes to say, “It’s not one more thing to put on your plate - your well-being is the plate. If you don’t have a strong plate - a strong mental health foundation - you will feel unable to manage your classroom, teach the curriculum, handle IEPs, show up for recess duty, etc. You can’t help a dis-regulated child if you are also dis-regulated.”