Today on a coaching call with a teacher, I learned that she was off work with stress due to a number of issues which I won’t go into here…let’s just say I have heard them all before (& experienced some myself).
She shared with me that she had contemplated ‘ending it all.’
I also learned that in her school, out of 18 members of staff, 9 of them are known to her to be on antidepressants due to the job.
9!!!
I asked her if I could share this (anonymously of course), because I stand against this systemic devaluation of teachers which permeates through our society, ruining the lives of the very people we rely on to enable us to work, live and thrive. Never mind shape the future of our most precious people; our children!!
Enough is enough.
I KNOW that many of you teachers are reading this, thinking ‘me too.’
I’m not expecting you to call yourself out by commenting.
But if you’re brave enough, at least call out the big elephant in the room when it comes these amazing professionals who are holding our country together.
This isn’t just a COVID thing. This is a systemic, deeply entrenched cultural problem that as a nation we need to address.
It’s an immense & overwhelming task – but we must start the conversation 
