The mental health of Canadian teachers has been deteriorating over time due to increased workloads, uncertainty, and inadequate support from school, boards/districts, and Ministry leadership (CTF, 2022). Many teachers do not feel supported on a system level and as a result many are taking mental health leaves, retiring early or leaving the profession altogether (ATA, 2021; Lorriggio, 2021; Naylor & White, 2010). The Healthy Professional Worker Partnership (HPW) is the first comprehensive, comparative, multidisciplinary and collaborative research initiative on mental health, leave of absence and return to work issues for professional workers. The HPW Partnership surveyed 1146 teachers and interviewed 53 teachers from across Canada in order to better understand the nature of mental health issues in the teaching profession. According to survey results, the top three sources of work stress included work overload, digital stress and poor relations with management. Based on the narratives shared by teachers, we curated a toolkit of interventions to promote psychological health and safety and mental wellbeing. We focused on curating peer, organizational, and system level promising practices to take the focus off ‘fixing’ individual teachers. Building wellness into the school day is vital to ensure the expectation isn’t just to be well on your own time. Teachers want to be heard, protected, prepared, supported, and cared for. This cannot be achieved through mindfulness and self-care practices alone. The education system needs to change in order for teachers to feel supported, connected, and mentally well at school.

Authors:
Melissa Corrente, University of Ottawa, Canada
Kristen Ferguson, Nipissing University, Canada
Ivy Bourgeault, University of Ottawa, Canada

About the Presenter(s)
Melissa Corrente is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Ottawa. She teaches for the Schulich School of Education at Nipissing University in North Bay ON. Melissa is the mother of two school aged children and is an outdoor enthusiast.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-corrente-5b794367/

Additional website of interest
https://www.healthyprofwork.com/

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