5 Top Tips for Teachers
Many people link happiness with career success, fulfilling relationships, having money in the bank, holidays or exercise.
All these are important – but at ImpACT-Mental Health, we believe resilience is the critical factor for living truly abundant and fulfilled lives. Scientific studies have shown being resilient can help people not only get through difficult times but also thrive during and after them. In the same way rubber rebounds after being stretched, so too do resilient people.
Resilience is a skill that can be learnt and so the role of the teacher – now more than ever – is to build resilient kids. When adversity strikes, when conflict happens, when suffering hits, no amount of money in the bank and no title or possession can affect our mental health as much as the ability we have to persevere, endure and adapt.
So how do teachers empower and teach resilience? Here are a quick few tips:
1. Face fears rather than run from them.
There are always days at school that terrify students. These may include public speaking, athletics day, running events, tests, exams and even simple tasks like where to sit in a lesson or facing the dreaded ‘get into pairs’ task that teachers request.
These are mini examples of adversity that life will always throw their way. They are also great opportunities for creating discussion in the classroom! Use the chance to raise awareness around what students are in control of and what situations in life they cannot control.
Conversations that revolve around questions give students thinking opportunities to grow and adapt:
• What is hard about the situation you face?
• What three things can you do about it?
• What is the worst thing that can happen?
• How might I deal with it if the worst does happen?
• What feelings do I have when I sense I am out of my depth or comfort zone?
• Where in my body do I feel those feelings?
• What do I need the most to be able to face my fear?
2. See failure as a platform for change and success.
The most successful people in life fail again and again. Steve Jobs’ failure to develop two products caused Apple to lose millions of dollars and led to him being ousted from the company in the mid-eighties.
Fortunately, Jobs eventually found his way back in 1997. He helped lead the company during a period of growth and innovation that continues to this day. Ask your students to complete a research topic to discover how successful people failed on their journey. A class sharing and speaking contest could have the theme, ‘Someone I admire because their failure led to success.’ This exercise opens a whole class to the opportunity to hear many stories of resilience and inspiration.
3. Recognise the things that make you strong.
There are some excellent online strengths assessments that students can complete. Slightly different from the personality tests, they suggest attributes such as strategic, achiever, includer, empath, responsibility, etc. Once students know their strengths, they can also work with their weaknesses. They require healthy boundaries to prevent rescuing others. Includers will struggle when left out themselves. Strategists may get frustrated when others lead. Achievers often find it hard to stop working and can become perfectionists to their own detriment. Discuss how understanding both strengths and weaknesses can build individual resilience.
4. Exercise regularly.
The role of exercise must never be underestimated in terms of improving both mental health and resilience.
Yet in school, limited sports choice may leave students thinking exercise isn’t for me. Ask if students had to do one sport that didn’t take place at school, what might it be. Ideas may include skiing, rock climbing, mountaineering, ice hockey, sea swimming, kayaking, dancing and sailing are all forms of exercise that improve mental health and resilience.
• Teach what happens when one hits the pain barrier in exercise and then one keeps going.
• Discuss what conversations can be had in one’s head when it’s hard to carry on, when one is out of breath and when muscles ache and exhaustion hits.
• Teach phrases like, “Only one step at a time,” or “I’m going to find a new level of energy,” or “I CAN go on,” and “I can push through this.”
5. Look for guidance from those who inspire you.
There are some incredible TED Talks on almost every conceivable topic of perseverance. Ask students to research a talk that motivates them in resilience.
• Did someone have an accident but manage to survive?
• What strategies did they use to recover?
• What mindset is important when trying to overcome obstacles?
Empower students to find mentors in business, parenting, careers, mental health support, etc. Often, students need to know the road ahead is safe and therefore, connecting with a mentor or healthy role model equips them to learn key resilience strategies.
A global pandemic, fear of sickness, lockdowns, limited travel, job loss and school closures are only one cause of the mental health crisis we face today. They reveal evidence of the level of stress individuals have become exposed to and how they respond. Panic attacks, overwhelm, depression and hopelessness dominate lives. At Impact-Mental Health, we believe teaching our students simple resilience strategies create healthy change in a rapidly changing and uncertain world.
