The Time is Now: Prioritizing Educator Mental Health

A Long-Term Perspective" detailed the urgent need for prioritization of mental health support for educators, offering a long-term, system-focused perspective. 1There is a large body of work that indicates that educators are at-risk for mental health difficulties, and the COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on this critical need.Educators operate at the intersection of several systems, including education (public or private), public health, and different levels of government (local, state/ province, federal), among others.Educators are asked to function within and between these systems to help students, parents, and families navigate community resources (e.g., transportation, food assistance, health care).Educators have long been regarded as pillars of our communities, critical to the development of the next generation.However, these conceptions fail to shape a core aspect of educator identitiesthey are humans first.A 2022 US survey found that less than half of US educators who responded believed that the general public respects them or views them as professionals. 2 In a sample of over 14 000 educators, the American Psychological Association's report demonstrated that nearly half of educators endorsed desire to quit or transfer jobs. 3This suggests that, despite platitudes about the value of educators, perhaps behavioral action, advocacy, and awareness are needed to supplement verbiage.Educators are critical to our communities.Below we have suggested several action steps that may be taken to facilitate valuing of educators in action.In the aforementioned report, 2 educators detail responsibilities that fall far outside of the realm of their training, education, and areas of expertise.The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted this challenge, wherein educators were balancing teaching modalities, cleaning classrooms, supplying students with personal protective equipment, and implementing public health recommendations, to name a few of many tasks.Beyond any individual disaster, educators are often called upon for responsibilities that come at an opportunity cost.Said otherwise, when educators are serving as first responders for student mental health, 4 spending personal funds on student school supplies, coaching a team, leading an extracurricular club, or grading on the weekend, that time and energy cannot be allocated elsewhere.Existing in our present world may evoke distress for those who are paying attention.Between the COVID-19 pandemic, wars across continents, natural disasters, and reports of daily violence around the world, among many others, there are many objective stressors that may weigh heavily on the minds of educators, students, families, and community members.Although often discussed as a skill in professional development, cultivating work-life balance is an elusive, ever-changing target that may be viewed as unattainable in the face of a wide array of responsibilities.Support of work-life balance from employers and systems is a critical first step toward promotion of educator mental health.Educators need concrete paths to access mental health support within their occupational context.Beyond accessibility, however, educators need personal time to access health care services.Pragmatically, if health care services are primarily offered during the workday, while educators are working with students, when might educators seek out psychotherapy, psychiatric care, primary care, or other mental health resources?As a result, integration within the occupational context seems optimal for 1) demonstrating a visible investment in educator mental health, 2) improving accessibility of psychiatric professionals, and 3) eliminating time and physical barriers.Nevertheless, many systems may include educators who need mental health support while also having limited funds to hire a team of employee assistance professionals.This again points to system-level solutions that are necessary to combat system-level problems.Changes of this magnitude likely necessitate policy-level interventions that are accompanied by increases in funding.Research can support these efforts by evaluating efficacy and accessibility of services delivered.Alongside research regarding intervention efficacy, implementation, and sustainability, there are several key research questions that the authors pose to guide future investigation.What types