Nov 4, 2019
In this episode of the Stigma
Podcast, I had a chance to speak with Mandy Froehlich. Mandy is an educator, and
personally, opens with us about overcoming PTSD, depression, and
anxiety.
Mandy is an experienced educator who leverages her professional
experience, and her passion for learning, to teach, train, and
inspire other teachers to renew their excitement for teaching, and
re-engage with their profession in an innovative way.
Currently, she spends her time
consulting school districts and post-secondary institutions on
effective use of technology to support teaching, mental health
support for educators, and how to create organizational change
within educational institutions.
Mandy has published a couple of
books. The first
was titled “The
Fire Within: Lessons from defeat that have ignited a passion for
learning” – where she discusses the idea of mental
health awareness within schools. Her most recent book, titled,
“Divergent
EDU” is based on an organizational structure concept
called “Hierarchy of Needs for Innovation and Divergent Thinking”
which was developed to support teachers in innovative and divergent
thinking.
Mandy is also the host of a podcast,
called “Teacher’s
Aid” – which focuses on providing social and emotional
support for the very personal challenges that teachers
face.
You can connect with Mandy
and learn more about her work here: Her
Website, Her
Twitter, LinkedIn,
Teacher’s Aid Podcast
HERE ARE SOME OF THE THINGS WE DISCUSSED:
- Teacher burnout –
We talked a bit about how she became a teacher, and how over time
she struggled to stay motivated. This led to a conversation
broadly on teacher burnout and why teachers disengage, burnout,
have a high attrition rate, etc. This impacts the children and
we dig into why on this podcast.
- The role of the school,
teacher, and parent in acknowledging a child’s mental health issues
– We
talked about this concept that as parents have begun to work more,
with both parents having full-time jobs, the school has been forced
to become a de facto parent for 7-8 hours a day. We discussed what role the
school, the teachers, and the children themselves play in observing
and helping those who have mental health needs within the school
system.
- Should teachers be talking
about their own mental health concerns? It depends on who they are
talking to.
Although teachers should be able to be vulnerable with their
students, oversharing can be bad. It’s ok to admit when you may
be dealing with something difficult. Kids need to know they are
not alone. It’s
also ok for teachers to admit their struggles to other
teachers. In a lot
of ways, teachers are the only ones who really understand other
teachers.
- What will mental health
help look like inside of a school? Some schools are
implementing social and emotional learning as well as mindfulness
into regular curriculum. The schools that are doing it
well are integrating these things into regular content, so kids are
learning to self-regulate and read at the same time, for
example.
- What if the parent or
teacher isn’t pulling their weight? This is very
common. It’s more
common than everyone being on the same page. Sometimes the MH issues are
caused at home.
Not all MH issues come from the parents, there are other things
that cause MH issues and trauma, but sometimes it does come from
something going on at home. Alcoholic parents, abusive
parents, etc. This makes it much more difficult for the
educator. Any
headway the schools can make is erased by the child going home at
night or over the summer. We talked at length about this.
- Peer to peer support
systems within schools – and at what age can it work? We talked about peer
to peer support networks within schools and how effective they can
or can’t be. We
discussed at what ages it can work or makes sense to
try. We talked
about how peer to peer solutions are good but are only one part of
a bigger implementation of solutions. We find that many kids have a
stronger connection with their peers than adults, and when you
consider that teachers have to report a lot of what they hear kids
talking about, it is safer for kids to talk to their peers (and
better than not talking at all). On the topic of how early is
too early, she says she has seen peer to peer networks work as
early as 2nd grade (with adult monitoring and facilitation of course).
- We talked about stigma and
compared the way children and adults stigmatize mental health
issues.
Based on our conversation, it appears that children are less likely
to stigmatize themselves or others and are more open to talking
about their problems than many adults. However, at younger ages,
they don’t have the coping skills to deal with the issues that come
up so they have to be in the right environment with the right
oversight to have these conversations.
Connect with the Stigma
Podcast in the following ways: Website,
Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn
Connect with host Stephen
Hays here: Stephen Hays Personal
Website, Twitter,
LinkedIn, What If Ventures (Mental
Health Venture Fund)