How to cope with burnout
Parents, teachers can help kids with back to school.
I’ve spent the past two columns talking to elementary and secondary school teachers about their fears and hopes for the 2021-2022 school year. For this column, let’s talk mental health — for both students and educators.
Many of the concerns about online learning have been around the learning gap caused by revolving school closures, as well as the long-term impact on kids, especially mental health effects on young minds forced to isolate for months at a time.
Anecdotally, all of my teacher friends have noticed an uptick in student mental health related issues, which have in turn led to more requests for accommodations, students checking out, and a lack of engagement and motivation caused by rising levels of anxiety and depression. Parents, too, have struggled to find supports for their kids at home.
For this reason, a July 2021 science brief put together by Sick Kids and other Ontario hospitals advised: “In-person learning is essential for the learning and overall well-being of children and youth. Therefore, barring catastrophic circumstances, schools should remain open for in-person learning.”
I called Dr. Yusra Ahmad, psychiatrist and clinical lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, to talk about how educators, parents and students can prepare for the upcoming school year.
Her first recommendation is for educators to acknowledge and make space for the toll the pandemic has taken on everyone’s life. “It might be helpful [for the teacher] to say something at the beginning of the school year to the class and create space for students to talk about how they’ve been handling the situation. What are some things they’ve have to do differently because of the circumstances created by COVID-19.”
Dr. Ahmad points out that this will allow students to share their concerns and coping strategies, and will encourage everyone to be honest about some of the challenges they have faced. As a bonus, when students share their coping strategies, “that can be very inspiring and helpful and can guide the teacher in terms of how to proceed and deal with the ongoing and evolving situation,” she observed.
While educators are accustomed to developing a classroom community during regular school circumstances, it was challenging to do the same online. I asked how educators, who will be responsible for teaching curriculum while also dealing with the learning debt accrued over the past tumultuous 18 months, can avoid burnout.
Dr. Ahmad advised that school staff stick to the basics: “For educators, in terms of avoiding their own burnout, it is very important to look out
for yourselves. Get enough sleep, exercise, get out there.”
Another simple thing parents, students and educators can do is to remember to breathe. “With COVID, with mask wearing, I think a lot of us are holding our breath and not breathing deeply, which can heighten anxiety.”
Anxiety can be caused by many triggers, but it has a physiological response, Dr. Ahmad explained. “One of the reasons for panic attacks is shallow breathing, which sends off panic signals in your brain and triggers hyperventilation. Deep abdominal breathing can in fact prevent generalized anxiety and also prevent exhaustion and fatigue.”
I asked what were some troubling signs that teachers, support staff, and parents should look out for in returning students. “If children are seeming to be more withdrawn and shut down, not wanting to engage as much with their peers, if they are fearful of
going outside, [if they] stop trying new things, and certainly if they are having difficulty with their school work.” This could lead to further discussions between parents, teachers, and the student, and more supports from school and home.
Finally, while it will be a readjustment for kids going back to school in person, Dr. Ahmad advises to remember it is always a risk-benefit analysis. “You can’t hide way from the dangers in the world. You have to grow, to be out there and experience things, and that’s really important. We can’t shy away from living our lives, so long as we are using healthy amounts of common sense and doing the right things, which include getting vaccinated, using masks, washing hands, using hand sanitizer.”
There has been a lot of talk about the resiliency of children during difficult situations, but as a teacher, I know that such resilience ultimately needs to
be built on a bedrock of support, security and love.
Our conversation ends on a hopeful and somewhat humorous note, as Dr. Ahmad noted: “It’s quite amazing to me — despite all the fear and impact of this virus on the world — that just washing your hands kills it. That’s really empowering to me, that a simple practice can have a huge impact.”
The best advice? “Be yourself, go back, have fun, and learn as much as you can,” Dr. Ahmad says.
Whether parents have chosen online or face-to-face learning for their kiddos this year, I wish you all a calm(er), happy school year, full of boring routines, best practices, and not a single day of school closures due to cursed COVID-19.