Hello lovely,
This blog post is going to be a little different than my others. I am going to discuss the topic of mental health and education. Before I begin, I want to share some statistics with you.
*DISCLAIMER* I am not a Dr., a psychologist or a mental illness or mental health expert. I am just a passionate teacher with experience and Google.
“1 in 5 Adults have a mental health condition. That’s over 40 million Americans; more than the populations of New York and Florida combined.
Youth mental health is worsening. Rates of youth with severe depression increased from 5.9% in 2012 to 8.2% in 2015. Even with severe depression, 76% of youth are left with no or insufficient treatment”
Resource: http://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/issues/state-mental-health-america
Why am I sharing this with you?
1 in 5 adults have a mental illness. That means if you have 5 teachers on your team, one of them can or will suffer from mental illness. The person, it could be you, may not be aware that they have this mental illness.
Why is this important?
I’ve been through it! Last year was my first year of teaching. I did not understand “work-life balance”, saying “NO!” or “take care of yourself!”. I burned myself out because I wanted to prove that I was “dedicated” to my profession. I had no one to “prove” this to besides myself. I had many of anxious thoughts such as “Man, I wish I could be like so-and-so.” or “If I just worked when I got home maybe I would have it together more.” I felt guilty for taking time for myself instead of doing something else for my students. After a long, stressful (but joyful) year, I have a few bits of advice.
- Help yourself then help others. To me, this sounded selfish. I am always the person who bends over backwards to help everyone, leaving myself with an empty cup and exhaustion. I learned the hard way. It is IMPOSSIBLE (yes, IMPOSSIBLE) to “fill” other’s cups if yours is empty. This goes for your co-workers, your students and your loved ones. How can you radiate happiness if you are burnt out and unhappy? Caring for yourself first (and not feeling guilty about it) will allow for you to properly be present with other people.
- It is OK to not be OK! Yes, you heard me. Everyone has bad days. Everyone has events in their lives that are not pleasurable. And guess what? IT’S OK! You should never feel afraid to let someone know that you are not ok. An open discussion for how you are feeling not only makes you vulnerable, but it makes you real. Find someone in your school or team that you can be open with about your feelings. Make sure it is someone you trust and that you respect. Would you deny a student from opening up if they were not ok? Of course not! We should feel the same way about fellow teachers. This profession is “not for the weak” but sometimes we need just need a hug!
- “Check on your strong friend” We all have that friend or co-worker who always “has it all together.” But, do they really? I have always been this “strong friend” because I’ve always wanted people to think I had it all together. When meeting my team, I realized it was OK to NOT have it all together! Check on that friend!! (!!!) Yes, they may SEEM like they have it all together, but I guarantee they need you. It is always the people we least expect to be suffering.
- Get Educated! You heard me! Teachers need to get educated on mental health! With the statistic of 1 in 5 adults suffering from a mental illness, you are bound to know someone who is or will be in that statistic. As some of you may know, I work at a coffee shop as my summer job. Sadly, one of my co-workers suffered severely from mental illness. This opened my eyes and I began to do research of my own. And what did I find out? Children suffer from mental illnesses too! This opened my eyes as a teacher and allowed me to look at education through a different lens. Not only are we teaching students their basic educational skills, we are teaching they how to grow into a working member of society. Researching mental illness and mental health as a whole allowed me to use different techniques in my classroom.
- “But, Im not suffering from a mental illness…” Mental health is something everyone should participate in. If you are reading this, you have a brain! (Congrats!) As far as I know, it is really hard to function without a brain. (I mean, not a Dr., just guessing!) So, why not take care of your brain? When your nails look dingy, you go to the nail salon. You don’t wait until you have health issues to go to the gym, right? Your mental health should not only be important to you, but everyone who cares about you. Need some ideas to better your mental health? Check out this link! https://www.uhs.umich.edu/tenthings
As an advocate for mental health, I hope one day I can better the lives of educators with programs and resources. Until then, I will continue to spread the word. Take care of your brain people, your students (babies!) rely on it!
Much love,
Ms. Hilburn
mshilburn 