More than ever, mental health is being tested to the limits with post pandemic insecurity, the cost-of-living crisis and future uncertainty. Students and teachers may also be anxious about the new academic year and the pressures that may come with it. It is important that there is a robust but approachable policy and lead in place to support mental health concerns within schools.
Following government guidance on mental health, schools are encouraged to appoint a senior mental health lead. The role involves:
- Having strategic oversight of the whole school/college approach to mental health and wellbeing,
- Support the school/college to get the best from existing resources,
- Help improve the wellbeing and mental health of students and staff.
Employers must carry out a First Aid assessment, with mental health assessments potentially following on from this. The school or college may then identify that there is a need for a senior mental health lead. This person, as well as overseeing the whole mental health approach, will be trained in identifying and supporting students and staff with mental health issues.
The senior lead should make plans on how to support poor mental health within the workplace amongst staff and students. Using government guidance, these support methods can include:
- Providing information or training for managers and employees,
- Utilising occupational health professionals,
- Appointing mental health trained first aiders,
- Implementing support programmes.
Further guidance from HSE on mental health in the workplace can be found here.
Unfortunately, school staff are not only having to deal with the pressures outside of the workplace, with mental health being one of the most common factors for staff absences in schools. With external and internal pressure teachers are facing, it is vital there is a structured mental health and absence policy to hand. Excessive workloads, lack of resources and classroom disruption from students can often lead to burnout amongst staff.
Managing staff absences in itself can be a laborious task, causing time to be more focused on admin and increasing costs to find support staff. If you need to review your absence policy, or you would like support accessing occupational health or counselling services, our HR team can help, just give them a call on 01924 827869. At SAM, we want to support schools to build an effective absence management process. Within SAM, your bespoke absence policy can create triggers that automatically flag when someone has exceeded your set limits. You can also set monitoring rounds to support staff further throughout the absence management process. Our reporting suite presents trends on absence types, departments and even employees so you can spot potential areas where employees need more support. Utilising wellbeing services to support mental health, such as counselling and Occupational Health, can be recorded in SAM along with wellbeing checks and Return to Work documents, allowing you to have a full picture in one place.
SAM is used by hundreds of schools across the country, so why not request a demo or call 01924 907319 to discover how SAM can help your school and the wellbeing of your students and staff.
