Teachers and staff often overlook teachers’ mental health to focus on students, but teachers’ mental health is also essential to the classroom. Teachers experiencing mental health issues such as depression and anxiety could impede their ability to teach and may result in quitting.

Teaching is a stressful job. The burnout that high school teachers experience is second to none, especially with the time crunch they face. Some teachers do not have enough time in the day for the many classes they must teach, prepare for, and give attention to the other tasks asked to be completed by the administration. “I can’t speak for everyone else, but the [course] workload is a big factor of the stress,” Larson said. “Block schedule helped me a lot with time management”. Sometimes, all it takes is a quick schedule change, like returning to the block schedule.

Many teachers don’t have an actual moment of peace throughout the day and can continue after hours, too. “It’s like waxing and waning. It’s never steadily happy”, Freshman English teacher Mrs. Freeman said. “I worked until 9 pm last night, and I didn’t sleep, and today I am tired and barely hanging on”.

One thing that the teachers will ensure is that students are never at fault, even if they contribute to the stress factor. “Teachers and students feed off each other’s energy emotionally. If everyone is depressed, then I’m going to be depressed, and if they’re happy, it’ll help me be a bit happier,” said Freeman.

The relationship between students and teachers building relationships is the essential element, and strengthening those bonds and that trust is incredibly important. “I always maintained relationships, and being able to be trusted is the key to success,” Larson said. The bond between teacher and student is incredibly important because you see each other daily for 45 minutes. Yet, 45 minutes is insufficient time to build and maintain those relationships in a meaningful way.

Teachers’ mental health matters more than ever, especially with record findings of teachers being depressed and unhappy with their careers, according to the National Institutes of Health, so paying attention to how they feel and their stress is more important than ever.