Common Mental Health Problems: Supporting School Staff by taking positive action

8/14/2019 Common Mental Health Problems: Supporting School Staff by taking positive action

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Common mentalhealth problems:

Supportingschool staffby taking

positive actionAdvice, strategies and solutions for governing bodies,employers, line managers, teachers and school staff.


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Department or Children, Schools and Families

Introduction

Working in education is bothexciting and demanding.

Teachers and school staf takeall o the demands placed uponthem with an exceptional sense

o personal commitment andresponsibility that can exacerbateany problems they may behaving. When it comes to mentalhealth, their dedication can workagainst their ability to cope.

Common mental health problemsarise rom lie events as well asthe pressure o work and this

is as true or teachers as it isor anyone else. Bereavements,divorces, nancial diculties,amily history and personalcharacteristics can trigger mentalhealth problems.

These problems are common.Some people put of lookingor help because they think thatthey will inevitably lose their jobi they have a problem. In actmost staf are easily treated andwith temporary adjustments doreturn to work. Very ew peopleare permanently afected or sobadly afected that they have toleave teaching. The earlier helpis sought the more likely it is that

any diculty will be overcome.

The guidance has beendeveloped ollowing a review oteachers sickness absence andalthough aimed at teachers andtheir employers is also relevant to

all school staf.


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About this booklet

This booklet outlines how todeal positively with commonmental health problemsamong teachers.

The advice contained in thisbooklet is based on evidencethat has been scienticallyreviewed by a specialist panelin conjunction with DCSF. Thedocument seeks to provideadvice to people dealingwith individuals experiencingcommon mental health problems.

This guidance is about commonmental health problems ingeneral in our schools, but isnot intended to tackle specicissues such as those relating toschool organisation, as there areother sources o inormation andsupport which schools can use.

The context or this inormationand advice is the duty o careemployers have under variouslegislation including the Healthand Saety at Work Act and theDisability Discrimination Act.By sympathetically applyingthis guidance it is hoped thatemployers and managers canreach the best possible outcome

or a teacher, pupils and a school.

Best practice on reducing theimpact o common mental healthproblems on teachers and schoolstaf has recently been reviewedand thereore the advice

contained in this publicationis evidence based. When anindividual has a mental healthcondition that afects their abilityto work, there are a number ogroups and organisations whoare well placed to help managethe situation. The bookletprovides strategies and adviceor each group:

Employers Human Resource staf Occupational Health staf School Governing Bodies Line Managers Teachers and school staf

Following this, real-lie examplesshow how a mental healthcondition arose, how it afectedthe teacher and their school, andhow the situation was resolved.


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Recognising the problem

I somehow thought as ateacher that I would knowwhat was happening.Id see it coming, stay in

control and be able tocope. But I couldnt.The problem took overand I needed medicaland colleague supportto help me.

Statistically, sickness absence byteachers compares avourably

with other parts o the publicsector. Although there is noanalysis o the underlyingtypes o illness that lead tosickness absence, we know romreviewing literature that, as inother proessions, depression andanxiety eature prominently.

In the school environment stress,

including work-related stress, canbe recognised in a number oways through personality change,poor perormance, grievanceissues and sickness absence.

There are common reasons whyindividuals will try to carry on ora long time beore recognisingthat they just cant cope. Theseinclude:

Denial o a problem Natural dedication to their job Concerns about the negative

reaction o others

Delays in identiying and tacklingsigns o common mental healthproblems can have an impacton personal well being and the

good o the school. There is clearevidence that early recognitionand intervention is helpul.

Being aware o changes in anindividuals behaviour, personaldemeanour and perormanceat work is crucial i problemsare to be addressed beore theybecome a crisis.


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The earlier a mental health

condition is recognised andacted upon, the better theoutcome or all, resulting in lessimpact on:

The teachers health Staf morale School perormance Pupils work and achievements.

Early intervention can also helpstaf stay at work while they gethelp, and ollowing a period oabsence, return to work and ullteaching capacity sooner thanwould otherwise occur whichbenets both the teacher andthe school.


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Complying with Healthand Safety Regulation

All employers have a generalduty o care under the Healthand Saety at Work Act 1974 to

ensure the health, saety andwelare o their employees soar as is reasonably practicable.

The Management o Health andSaety at Work Regulations 1999require all employers to assessand manage all risks to whichemployees are exposed at workincluding any risks o stressrelated injury. By complying withthe regulations employers willnot only reduce the incidence owork-related stress in schools butthey will also protect themselvesrom claims or psychiatric injurythat may arise rom breach o theregulations irrespectiveo negligence.

There is a lot o helpul guidanceon managing stress in generalbut we would like to emphasise

the use o the risk managementapproach. This includesidentiying the specic stress riskhazards in your workplace:

deciding who might be at risk; evaluating the actual level

o risk; recording what action needs to

be taken to avoid or reduce therisk, and

monitoring and reviewingto ensure your measures areefective.

For urther guidance use theHSE website the address owhich is given in the sourceso help section.


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Applying the DisabilityDiscrimination Act

There is a common perceptionthat the Disability DiscriminationAct reers only to physical

disability. But the Act alsoprovides or mental healthconditions that prevent aperson rom carrying out theirnormal work.

The Act makes it clear thatemployers cannot discriminateagainst an employee onthe grounds o a disablingmental health condition. Theemployer must make reasonableadjustments to accommodatethe needs o an employee whosemental health condition lastslonger than 12 months.

But what do reasonableadjustments mean in practice?

Heres an example whichmay help to understand thepossibilities:

A member o staf whohas been struggling with acombination o stress, anxietyand depression consults his/her General Practitioner (GP).

They decide that a period o sick

leave is appropriate while somemedication and counselling istried. A sick note is handed in

to the school and on receiptthe individual is reerred to theOccupational Health Service.

The Occupational Health advisercarries out an assessment todecide i work was a majorcontributing actor and i thereare any barriers to an earlyreturn to work. The individualis encouraged to stay in closecontact with the school andrecommendations are made toovercome the barriers.

As soon as the individual andtheir GP consider that they willbe ready, a structured meetingmust take place where a return towork plan is agreed and ongoing

reviews are scheduled.What adjustments could beconsidered?


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Phased return to work, or

example, the individual workingin a job-share arrangement withthe supply teacher or temporarystaf member who has beenemployed in their absence

Adjusting the timetableallowing exible working hoursor a dened period 1

Ensuring the ull planning,preparation and assessment

allocation is protected orteachers during a return towork phase i.e. 10 per cent otimetabled teaching hours

Introducing additional classsupport or a dened period otime (e.g. teaching assistant)

Providing a condential mentor Reassigning extra-curricular

activities or additional

responsibilities perhapsthe individual helped out indrama productions, or wenton eld trips.

Any or all o these (and theyare just a ew examples) couldbe construed as reasonableadjustments within the Act.Clearly, they will requirediscussion, exibility, and awillingness to entertain change.

It is important to note that inthe example above, adjustmentis made even though long termabsence has not yet occurred.

This is because the conditionwas likely to continue or longer

than twelve months and could

thereore be considered as

qualiying under the Act. Evenwithout the discretion afordedby the Act it would still beappropriate or adjustments tobe made to reduce the impact onpersonal well being and on pupiland school perormance.

1As a rule o thumb, adjustments should initiallybe in place or 6 weeks and then reviewedbeore deciding next steps.


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Advice for employers

Employers may be the localauthority, governing body or otheragency depending on the typeo school.

Employers have a legalresponsibility to ensure the health,saety and welare o all theiremployees. With regard to mentalhealth conditions, employers must:

Ensure policies and proceduresare in place that recognise anddeal with the issue o commonmental health problems.

These should include:

Consideration o organisationo work

Regular health risk assessmentor the whole organisation Early recognition or individuals

with common mental healthproblems (which may requiretraining)

Interventions that includeshort-term rehabilitationand return to work plans,and longer-term reasonable

adjustments to work

Implement the ManagementStandards or Work-related Stress(rom the Health and SaetyExecutive) or an equivalentprogramme such as WorklieSupports Well-being Programme..

Actively demonstrate recognition

and acceptance o common mentalhealth problems by creating anenvironment where staf eelcomortable in asking or help.

Act early and provide consistentsupport.

Enlist the support o HumanResources (HR) personnel andOccupational Health (OH)proessionals (whether these are

employed by the school, providedby the LA, or bought in on an as-required basis).

Ensure individuals have theirroles and responsibilitiesclearly dened.

Advice for HR

and OccupationalHealth staff

It is best practice to ensure thatall school staf have access toOccupational Health services.Where they do it is importantthat their independent role isclearly communicated. Advice isprovided to both employee and

employer by these services.HR and Occupational Healthpeople should make sure theyprovide:

Efective communication andagreed working practices ormental health issues to supportemployers and managers


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Practical solutions,

comprehensive risk assessment,counselling, mediation andrehabilitation plans in line withan individuals or a schoolsparticular requirements

The right supply teacherinsurance, which will makeprovision or a teacher to returnto work on a phased basiswhere this would support ull

rehabilitation.

Advice for schoolgoverning bodies

Governing bodies mayhave additional or diferentresponsibilities or health andsaety arrangements, dependingon the nature o the school.

The Disability Discrimination Actplaces additional responsibilitieson those in appropriate positions.Governors should make sure theyunderstand what the Act requiresthem to do in respect o peoplecovered by the Act.

They are also required to draw

up a ormal policy on how theschool will respond to disablingmental health conditions amongstaf. They may then set periodicreviews o that policy to makesure it remains proactiveand relevant.

In addition, governors should:

Ensure policies and proceduresare in place that recognise anddeal with the issue o commonmental health problems (as inadvice to employers above).

Ensure the implementation othe Management Standards orWork-related Stress (rom theHealth and Saety Executive) oran equivalent programme.

Ensure the school has access to thesupport o Human Resources(HR) and Occupational Health(OH) service (provided by theLA, or bought in on anas-required basis).

Advice forline managers

By line managers, wemean anyone who has linemanagement responsibility orone or more members o staf.

Line managers should:

Recognise the value o goodmanagement practice withsystems in place to efectivelymanage staf

Foster a supportive workenvironment

Pay attention to any indicationo changes in perormance orbehaviour in staf



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Encourage sympathetic

alertness to staf who developsigns o not coping Reer staf to Occupational

Health services where availablewhen there are concerns orabsence due to work-relatedstress and other mental healthproblems.

Keep in touch with absentstaf which should start ater

two weeks absence andmaintained at ortnightlyintervals thereater.

Be supportive in any returnto work process.

Advice for teachersand school staff

First and oremost, it is importantto stress that mental healthconditions are not some kindo ailure. They are commonand can happen to anyone, atany time in their lie, and theyneed not arrive reighted withshame, guilt and a sense oweakness revealed.

Those working in schools sharean understanding o the mutualstress and strains their job entails.

Talking with colleagues, a head odepartment, or someone else withwhom you eel an anity can bethe initial step in acknowledgingthat a problem exists.

There is very strong evidence

that when mental healthproblems occur, earlyintervention works. This meansgetting support or help assoon as you think you mightbe experiencing a problem.

I you dont eel that you cantalk to anyone at school, thereare a number o other sources

o support including riends andamily, and support organisations(see below).

There are solutions! Talkingtherapies, counselling, liestylechanges such as diet and exercise,supportive colleagues, GPadvice and possible medicationcan all help. And whenever an

individual is taking sickness leavedue to a mental health problem,it always helps or them and theirline manager to agree abouthow best they can stay in touch,because wherever possible thegoal is a return to work.



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Martin, Head of Department,Secondary School

Last year I moved to a muchlarger school. Id been a Head o

Department or our years andalthough there had been timeswhen I elt under pressure, it hadnever afected my health beore.

It quickly became clear thatthere was a great deal o extraresponsibility compared to mylast school. I soon began to eeloverwhelmed, but I didnt want

to let on that I was nding thingstough. Not long into my secondterm I was signed of sick by myGP. I elt like such a ailure.

Ater six weeks I started to eelbetter, but the thought o goingback to ull-time work terriedme. My sister, who is also ateacher, encouraged me to speakto my union. I wasnt sure whatthey could do, but they wereincredibly supportive. Theyhelped me arrange a phasedreturn to work. The school agreedand allowed me to build up roma couple o days a week justclassroom teaching.

Being able to ease mysel backin really helped to rebuild mycondence. Without the unionshelp and the understanding andsupport o the school, Im not

sure I would have gone back at all.

Sophie, New Head ofDepartment,Secondary School

I had always enjoyed mychallenging role as Head oDepartment. At rst I didnt

realise what was happeningbut one morning I woke up and

just couldnt ace going intowork. When I called in sick mymanager was great. She told metake the rest o the week of andsuggested I visit my GP.

Having some space to reecthelped me to see what wascausing my anxiety. I met withmy manager outside o theschool environment and talkedeverything through. Together weidentied the tasks that I coulddelegate to other colleaguesto give me more time or mynew Head o Departmentresponsibilities.

Personal stories


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We agreed to meet on a regular

basis to discuss my workload andmake sure things didnt get outo hand again. Returning to workwas quite daunting but knowingthat I had my managers supportmade it much easier. I am moreaware now o the signs o stress,which has actually helped meto be a better manager. I haveinstigated a well-being policy or

the department that I hope willbe taken on by the whole school.

Amir, Year 6 teacher

Having been teaching or almost15 years I ound it dicultto admit that I was having aproblem. My partner was getting

increasingly concerned aboutmy health as I was regularlygetting headaches and ndingit dicult to sleep. Once Irealised the impact it was havingon my personal lie and myperormance at work I decided Ineeded to get some help.

I didnt really know where to turnto at rst but then I rememberedthe school well-being policy thatwe had developed at an INSETday. I had a look and decided tocall Teacher Support Network. Itwas such a relie to talk abouthow I was eeling to someonewho wouldnt judge me. Theyhelped me with some relaxation

techniques, encouraged me

to see my GP about my sleep

problems and also advised meon the best way to approach myHeadteacher about the problemsI was having.

When I did speak to myHeadteacher, he was veryreassuring. He put me at easestraight away and acknowledgedthat it had been a dicult year

or everyone and that he hadno doubt in my teaching ability.He arranged or me to haveregular appointments with anoccupational health adviser untilI elt more on top o things andable to cope.

I dread to think what would havehappened to me i I had let it

any longer to get help. Despitemy diculties I still love my

job and thanks to the support Ireceived I hope to still be doing itor a long time to come.



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John, Headteacher talking

about helping David,year 11 teacher

I became aware o Davidserratic behaviour by accident. Ioverheard two pupils talkingabout him losing it and throwinga wobbly. When the Head oDepartment asked David ieverything was OK, David got

indignant and stormed of. Hephoned in sick the next dayand then I received a sick noteshowing anxiety and depression,signing him of or a month.

One o David s classes was dueto take GCSEs and another an ASmodule. He was also involvedin lots o other school activities.

The Head o Department and Iboth tried to phone him to seehow he was and in particular tond out i we needed to makealternative plans, but he wouldntspeak to us. His wie said thedoctor had told him not to. Wemade arrangements to cover theclasses and exams.

We heard indirectly that he wasnot well and believed we weretrying to replace him. The HRservice at our local authorityadvised us to reer him toOccupational Health. I wroteto the Occupational HealthService and I outlined whathad happened, and what my

concerns were. They conrmed

that David was sufering rom

anxiety and depression. They alsoconrmed that he was gettingtreatment and counselling, andthey were optimistic he couldreturn to work in a ew months which gave us some idea o howlong we would need to keepalternative arrangements in place.

Six weeks later they wrote again

to say that David had madesubstantial improvement andhe could start talking about hisreturn. They made suggestionsabout a phased return to work,along with some other initialsupport.

I am sure he was as apprehensiveas I was about that meeting and

just as relieved aterwards at howwell it actually went. We agreedthat he would come back to workon a part-time basis and takeback one o the younger, non-exam classes. He had an inormalmeeting with his year head everyday or the rst two weeks andthen twice a week, which heound extremely helpul.

Our plan or next year is thatDavid wont teach exam classes,and we will cut back additionalschool activities until he is readyto resume them. Hes an excellentand highly motivated teacherand I am delighted that witheveryones help he is back

on board.


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Sources of help

Health and Saety Executivewww.hse.gov.uk

Teacher Support Networkwww.teachersupport.ino

Worklie Supportwww.workliesupport.com

Trade Unionswww.tuc.org.uk

www.teachers.org.uk

www.atl.org.uk

www.nasuwt.org.uk

www.unison.org.uk

www.voicetheunion.org.uk

www.naht.org.uk

www.ascl.org.uk

Institute o Occupational Saetyand Health (IOSH)www.iosh.co.uk

Occupational Health servicesContact Local Authority orurther inormation

Association o Local Authority

Medical Advisers, (ALAMA)www.alama.org.uk

The Society o OccupationalMedicinewww.som.org.uk

Occupational health providersto Local Government Employers(LGE)

www.lge.gov.uk

This booklet was developed inpartnership with


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You can download this publication

or order copies online at:

www.teachernet.gov.uk publications

Search using the re:

DCSF-00380-2008

Copies o this publication can

also be obtained rom:

DCSF Publications

PO Box 5050

Sherwood Park

AnnesleyNottingham NG15 0DJ

Tel: 0845 60 222 60

Fax: 0845 60 333 60

Textphone: 0845 60 555 60

Please quote re:

00380-2008BKT-EN

ISBN: 978-1-84775-155-3

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Common Mental Health Problems: Supporting School Staff by taking positive action