End of Academic Year Reflections - on Mental Health in Schools

A little look into what is going on in my mind.

This year, many things have become apparent to me. Working with vulnerable children, I have witnessed how they carry their heavy armour to protect the flame of self that has been diminished over time. I’ve seen headteachers being pulled away from running a school so that they could go off to pick up children from home so that they could attend their session. Headteachers fighting to stand by their values of supporting their children in their care, failed by the system that is being cut down to its bare minimum of simply holding children in these buildings. Teachers running low, trying to keep their spirits up while the politicians rub their hands making decisions not understanding the simplest bit of child development. Many of those politicians that have had the education that every child should deserve - filled with art, music, sports - all well equipped and inspiring, pathing a way towards a future of many possibilities, having tried out more than just watercolour on paper. Of course, I am drawing an exaggerated picture here but it is not far off from reality.

I have observed classrooms, especially in the younger years, that seem to be communicating anxiety through externalised and internalised behaviours, children struggling to connect. We know that our mental states are held in our bodies, making them fizz and act out in a very unsettled way or settling down in our tummies creating this big, heavy, dense knot that lies there so heavily immobilising us to get anything done. Having these play out in a classroom full of young children can only be exhausting for teachers - it is merely impossible to give that focussed attention to each individual child, especially when they need it so much. That, again, is a failure on part of the systemic set-up. The only thing I can recommend from my little corner: Use brain breaks and get these bodies moving. They needn’t take more than 1-2 minutes and I’d feed them in every 20 minutes or so. Believe me, this will help to get rid of some of the fizziness and most of the boys will benefit from it; it will also help loosen up that heavy ball inside the tummies and create lightness and spark that fire of confidence (it’ll get bigger with time).

It almost goes without saying, and if you are in the field of education you are well aware of it, the mental health crisis of our children and young people is real. The newspapers talk about it to no end. What saddens me most when I read these articles is that I am not surprised and shocked anymore, I simply nod in agreement.

There is hope though - wonderful people exist and they want to be part of the change and make this world a better place. I am surrounded by people who believe in the magic of childhood and who simply want to give it back to their rightful owners: the children. As the systems aren’t there to serve the children truly, to honour their strengths and wonders that reside within them, we have to build systems that honour the wisdom, the purity and joy to living life fully and presently. It is our duty to create a structure that protects their little flame, the flame of self, the flame that makes them them.

Being an alternative provider I experience first-hand the need for more alternative providers. Just this last term, I was fully booked and I was approached by three different schools asking for more help for different children. School staff share their experiences about the struggle to find support as there are not enough intervention options out there for children - all or most of them are full.

I hear of children that cannot access their education as their internal struggle is too strong. Interfering with their thinking while their prefrontal cortex is off-line and their survival mode is high-jacking the tiniest chance to attain any newly-learned information.

My focus as an alternative provider is solely therapeutic. I have worked with children that were perceived as a danger to their community, not attending their lessons and being generally disruptive. What they needed was exclusively therapeutic interventions to get their nervous systems regulated so that they then are able to navigate their communities and relationships safely. Often the children ask to learn after a period of time (that can take up to 6 months, sometimes less, sometimes more). Children want to learn if they can, as long as their bodies feel safe enough to do this. I have seen schools making adjustments for their vulnerable learners, offering smaller groups so that every child has a chance to learn. Yet, there are still children who need to experience the felt safety within a relationship first and on a long-term basis.

When children don’t feel safe, they do not act in a safe way. Survival is the only way, and when one needs to survive, forces get activated within us that we can get surprised by.

This, of course, is hard to experience as school staff. Teachers are expected to teach, fill in mountains of paperwork, attune to each individual child at the same time (which is not possible by the way!) and then go home, stay regulated and keep on working so that they can serve the children in their classrooms again the next day. That sounds like a lot, right? It is. Teachers don’t get supervision… Yes, they don’t. They should. But they don’t. Some schools offer this to their staff but in my experience, teachers do not get the care they need and deserve. They don’t even get the acknowledgement they need and deserve. And I am talking about the bigger picture here, I am talking about the people at the very top, so far removed from anything that they simply can’t (and maybe even don’t want to) know. If we want to have a healthy school community we need to look after the ones in charge of the children. The stories teachers hear can be unbearable and this needs to be processed. Teachers need to feel that they are not alone in this. Otherwise, secondary trauma comes into the game. And no one needs to look after others when they are in a constant loop of secondary trauma. It’s simply not sustainable.

We keep talking and hearing about self care but I am getting to the point now where I feel that even that is not enough. And it is another thing ‘to do’ or think about. No, the staff need to be cared for and structures need to be put in place. Awareness is growing around it. Now we need to let the actions grow and speak and do their thing.

On a much lighter and very different note: I love learning more and more and more. Especially when it comes to trauma, child development, children in general, parenting and so on and so on. The other day I listened to a podcast episode by Smart Family Podcast (from 05.02.2020) in which Michael Gurian talks about Brain Science and explains why boys and girls learn differently and offers some good thoughts of what could be offered in the day-to-day classroom routines so that it serves both sexes. I can only recommend listening to it as there were some interesting facts that can be useful and beneficial for the learners in the classroom. I believe that it will also offer more satisfaction for most teachers as the children’s brains will function better if we include what neuroscientists have so kindly found out for us. Seriously, listen to it - he can describe it much better than I could. And why reinvent the wheel, right?

Let’s keep upskilling ourselves, keep that curiosity going and guide and raise these children to their fullest and highest potential while feeling seen and heard and cared for.

I have had way more on my list of reflections but I think this will do for now. In the future I will share more reflections as I go through my days, weeks and months.

While this all sounded deep and, at points a bit cloudy, I believe that there is hope. If we keep sticking to our values and model the way we live and work and stand by what we believe in, then others around us will pick up on these energies and will feel empowered to do just the same. We need to lead by example, if it is not for the other professionals around us then it definitely needs to be for the wonderful children we work with. The children from today need to witness strong and steady adults who lead with grace and inner power. They need to experience how important they are and what it feels like to be seen and heard, to be valued and to be given the belief that they, one day, will change the world. They need to feel that they matter, no matter what. And you know what, I know that there are many people who already have it inside of them and I can see this strength breaking out here and there. We just have to remind each other that we are not doing this alone, even if it sometimes feels just like that. We are here together, changing how we make children feel and moving forwards. I truly believe this. Let’s work together being led by our hearts and the twinkle of the children’s eyes.