Empowering Educators: Building a Thriving, Mental Health-Friendly School Environment

Nowadays schools are focusing to create mental health friendly for students. Research says that around 1 in 5 school students suffer from stress. Why?

Students are getting pressure from both parents and teachers to get good marks and aim for the top ranks. This creates more stress in their mind. Now schools are taking steps to convert into mental health-friendly schools.

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In this article, we discuss how teachers create mental health-friendly schools for students. Let us see in this article below.

Become an inspiration to your students

After their parents, teachers are the inspiration and role models for students. It is your responsibility to teach them about mental health:

• Teach them the difference between mind and thoughts. The mind is an invisible part present in our body. In that thoughts arise on the basis of our environment, surroundings, and our lifestyle

• Teach them the difference between positive and negative thinking. And teach them to start to see positivity even in negative situations. Are you following this habit?

• Help everyone and show gratitude towards everything present in your life. This one quality is a great inspiration for students

• Teach them how you are balancing your physical and mental health through short stories

Act as a good supportive system

Students need support from teachers at the time they are facing mental health issues. Before supporting them, try to understand their needs and wants. How to support them?

• Converse with them and understand their needs and wants

• Reconnect with them and try to solve their issue after school gets over

• Before entering new syllabus content, check their previous performance results. If it is not good, give some breaks for their refreshment. Use these breaks for fun activities

• Ask for their suggestions and respect their opinions about new ideas. Try to implement it as fast as possible. This creates positive feedback in their mind about the school and teachers

Educate and bring awareness about mental health

Through awareness camps and workshops, you can educate and be aware of mental health. What are the benefits they will receive?

• First, students understand the importance of mental health and how it is essential to safeguard mental health every single day

• They know about the mind's pattern and structure. When they discover their pattern, they can easily win their mind and take good decisions for their life

• Students can easily solve their problems on their own and increase their willpower

• Students actively participate in all kinds of activities with full focus and concentration

Appreciation and praising students often

Everyone needs appreciation and recognition for their work to move forward in their life. Especially, students need some appreciation to perform well in their academics. What happens when you praise the students often?

• It will boost their mental power to show the best results in every exam

• It will create a belief that everything we should try in our life

• A mindset will create that nothing is impossible in our life

• Appreciation increases their focus, sets their goals, and achieves them in a short period.

School Management supports the teachers

Teachers are giving their full effort to the students to take care of their mental health as much as possible. But who will take care of the teachers? School management is responsible for that. They should follow these things:

• Give respect to the teachers and do not give more load of work. Make a plan and provide it according to their capacity

• Management should take care of teachers' mental health By conducting awareness and workshop camps

• Arrange or prescribe doctors for teachers when they are dealing with stress or other health issues

• Value their opinion and permit in case of emergency

Conduct amazing workshops

School management should arrange for mental health workshops. In that workshop, both students and teachers have the opportunity to learn about yoga and meditation. Benefits of yoga and meditation:

• Yoga maintains a flexible, fit, and healthy body. It eradicates all the unwanted wastes from your body.

• Meditation brings more calmness and relaxation to our minds. It cleanses all unwanted thoughts and improves focus in our minds.

• Students can excel in their academics and teachers can live a stress-free life when they do yoga and meditation regularly

Seek parents help

Arrange parents' meetings differently. Do not use it as a complaint platform. Instead of that, convey to them the awareness and workshops you conducted in the past.

Show glimpses of the workshop and mention the importance of kids' mental health and activities conducted in schools Encourage parents to teach positivity to their kids in every situation.

Physical health is essential

Nowadays students are not concentrating on taking action on both physical and mental health. Our body is precious and it's a God's gift. Our life is running based on the mind. So, it is our responsibility to take care of our bodies and mind. How to take care of your physical health?

• Follow a proper diet and avoid junk and fast foods

• Do regular exercise and yoga to get a flexible body

• Students should take a break every 20 minutes. Use that time to warm up your body, go for a walk, do eye rotation, etc…

• Drink more water every day

• Quality of sleep is essential. 6 to 8 hrs of deep sleep is essential and waking up in the early morning

• Mental and physical health are interrelated with each other. So handle your emotions with care.

• Spend time with your loved ones. It helps to release your dopamine and relax your mind

Closing thoughts

From the above article, we discuss how teachers are playing a vital role in creating a mental health-friendly school for the benefit of students. Training good mental health from a young age is one of the biggest advantages of a beautiful and peaceful life in the future.

They know how to handle their life even in their critical situation. So, follow these tips and implement them in your schools. What are the views of this article? Let us know in the below section of our blog.