In today’s high-pressure educational environment, the well-being of teachers is more crucial than ever. Carly Quick, educator wellness consultant, works with Principal Dan Debruycker to meet the mental health needs of Metea teachers through the teacher wellness program.
Teachers are a foundational part of human development, teaching us basics, such as our ABC’s and learning how to do quadratic equations. Teachers are often not given the credit they deserve, making it all the more important to recognize their nessastative value in society.
DeBruycker personally understands the importance of being supported as an educator, so he believes that a teacher wellness program is a priority.
After Debruycker lost his mom over a school year ago, he says, “I want them to feel that way too. And this support and knowing that they cared [for] is huge.”
Teachers navigate their own stressors while trying to create a productive classroom environment and managing the needs of students. Teachers are expected to manage their other priorities and stresses all the while coming to school with a positive attitude and the intention of helping students.
“This juggling act is incredibly challenging, especially when students bring their own issues into the classroom,” Quick said.
As awareness of mental health grows, teachers are on the front lines balancing their own well being while also being while also supporting their students as counselors.
Quick, who transitioned from being a school social worker after 20 years, observed a growing trend of stress among educators.
“Even before COVID, teachers faced overwhelming expectations. They were inundated with responsibilities without sufficient time or support,” said Quick.
The COVID-19 pandemic created new challenges for educators and exposed ongoing issues in the education system. With widespread K-12 school closures, teachers had to quickly adapt to online teaching while trying to support students from a distance. Many students lacked reliable internet access, complicating matters for teachers who faced similar struggles. By the end of the 2020-2021 school year, students were, on average, five months behind in math and four months in reading, and this gap continued to widen, forcing teachers to work hard to help students catch up.
The aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic in the education system has caused a cultural shift in high schools and an increase in the amount of pressure teachers are under, leading to burnout and dissatisfaction in the profession.
Metea Valley High School addresses this issue through Carly Quick’s teacher wellness program.
“The teacher wellness program encompasses personal, professional, and organizational wellness,” Carly explained. “It’s about how educators feel emotionally and mentally, their job satisfaction, and the overall climate of their schools.”
The attitudes of parents have become an extra stressor.
“It used to be the other way around. People trusted the teacher and were like, parents, you’re wrong, like, this is what’s going on with your kid.” She says. “parents feel very empowered to just sometimes kind of bulldoze situations a little bit, and teachers have been really feeling that pressure a lot.”
“Parents who experienced strict discipline often swung to the opposite end, wanting to be supportive rather than authoritarian,” she explained. “While this can foster a more nurturing environment, it can also lead to a lack of accountability.”
As financial constraints push schools to cut programs or implement new initiatives without adequate training, teachers are left to manage the fallout.
“Schools are being run like businesses, which can strip away the human element.” Quick said. “So teachers became very overwhelmed by the business side of things, cutting funds, you know, putting putting new things, new programs, into the building that everybody just had to do without any sort of, you know, proper maybe sometimes there’s proper training, but definitely not proper mindset prep to have teachers ready to deal with that.”
Overall the education system is becoming a very unsupportive environment for teachers. Our principal Dan Debruycker has recognized this growing tension and contracted Carly Quicks wellness program.
She talks to teachers on a personal level, asking about what’s going on. How are you feeling settling into this new school year? And what are your particular concerns and goals that you want to set for yourself. She schedules voice chats, and comes into the building to talk to teachers, she directs them to different tools they can use to manage their stressors.
This holistic approach recognizes that when teachers are supported, they are better equipped to foster positive learning environments for their students.
Quick’s work reflects a growing recognition that the well-being of educators directly impacts the quality of education. As schools continue to evolve, fosterting supportive environments for teachers is vital for nurturing the next generation of learners.
