Education Worker Toolkit
Like all Canadians, education workers and teachers experience mental health challenges. As part of a larger study of Canadian professional workers, 1146 education workers completed a survey to explore their experiences with mental health, leaves of absence, and return to work between November 2020 and May 2021.
Click below for the education report
A high number of education workers in our study, over 50%, reported having had a mental health issue at some point during their careers, with female teachers reporting high rates.
53 education workers were interviewed about their experiences. Themes such as increased workload, digital stress, the impact of leadership, social isolation and feeling disconnected were mentioned most often.
Our research team utilized survey data and interview stories to curate a list of resources to help improve education worker mental health with a focus on system, organization and team level resources.
Please watch our introductory video to help guide you through the resource options available.
What Interviewee’s are Saying:
“Nobody quits a job. They Quit a Manager”
“My interactions with health and wellness have left me feeling frustrated and feeling like I’m a number and not a person”
The Teacher App
This app aims to help teachers take care of themselves and feel stronger when it comes to navigating mental health. This can be achieved through community and providing services to connect, heal, and learn.
Teachers of Tomorrow Project
This iniative proposes an upstream approach to addressing student well-being though the issue of teacher preparedness. Key areas of focus include the physical environments of faculty, implementing healthy school policies and teacher and learning strategies. Knowledge exchange can be found at cshhub.com
Well Teacher Group
This is a six week program with a holistic approach to wellness to help teachers make lifestyle changes that will positively affect their physical, mental, and emotional well-being. It involves a 12 hour group workshop with six, two hour long sessions led by qualified occupational therapists or trained consultants in mental health.
Mindfulness Everyday
SmartEDUCATION (Stress Management and Resiliency Techniques) is an evidence-based, trauma sensitive and EDI aware program designed to address the needs to educators. The 20 hour program is delivered in a workshop setting, consists of 8 x two hour sessions, a 4 hour silent retreat and includes home practice.
Starling Minds
Starling Minds is a digital mental health platform that reduces absence and disability costs by delivering immediate, unlimited, and personalized digital Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). The Ontario Insurance Plan (OTIP) selected Starling Minds to deliver personalized mental health programs for more than 160,000 Ontario-based educators.
This Toolkit explores how to implement the Canadian Healthy School Standards, with a specific focus on the actions needed at a school system leadership level. It provides a pathway to follow in the form of six interconnected checklists, along with connections to additional resources.