Last summer, experts issued warnings that the mental health of our nation’s teachers could be impacted when school resumed. Those warnings appear to be playing out. Teachers are reporting that their mental health is suffering in ways they have never experienced. They are anxiety ridden and exhausted.
For teachers who have been operating in crisis mode for well over a year – the constant unpredictability of school opening and closing, the isolation, a new host of challenges in reaching their students – whose mental health they also worry about, are only compounded by the stress of the pandemic the rest of the country feels.
May 3- 7, is teacher appreciation week, and May is mental health month. It’s only fitting that we have a conversation to recognize (and appreciate) the expanded role teachers have been asked to play during the pandemic and the toll their willingness to do whatever it takes for their students may be taking on their mental health.
Joining HealthCorps CEO, Amy Braun (herself and educator) to discuss causes and solutions as we prepare for a return to the classroom next year are Dr. Mark Goulston, a member of the HealthCorps Board of Advisors, a board-certified psychiatrist and author of Why Cope When You Can Heal – which was created for essential healthcare workers suffering from anxiety and depression as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic and Michelle Benedict, the director of USANA’s Kids Eat who through her work in feeding students, saw the impact of the pandemic on teachers in Salt Lake City and created a program to support them.
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