Should teachers and employers care/act on the stress of their students or employees?

Question

Recently my bio teacher has picked up on how stressed we are as students. So, this made me think...should they care or even act on it? Or should they let it go because they are stressed too/it’s not an issue they should deal with?

Answer

As a teacher, the traumas of my students goes home with me at night. It’s secondary trauma and our staff recently completed an assessment to determine if we are being too personally impacted by the challenges of our students. Employee mental health is essential. We’ve had many trainings on not only how to be trauma sensitive with students but also compassion resilience - how to maintain our own health while helping our struggling students. It’s not only the day to day stress such as too many tests on one day (we have a calendar that all staff enter exams and large due dates to avoid this). It’s the traumas that students have or currently are experiencing (homelessness, medical issues, death, drugs, divorce, etc). Teachers care so deeply for their students - more deeply than students know. Their challenges do impact us. We’re just wrapping up our spring break and during that time away I worried about many of my students. I’ll worry about them years later as they graduate and go off into the world. It’s part of the job. But it’s also a part that needs to be monitored or it can become consuming and traumatic for the teacher.

Answer

They can try to help with their class to be less stressful. But as far as then getting involved with each student can be dangerous. It could cross a line to some. Some students may also consider it favoritism if a teacher focus on one or just a few. 
It's a little on the fence when it comes to their job. But a discussion with other teachers on how to reduce the stress if the students, it figuring how to reduce in their own class wood be helpful

Answer

I think they should. If my mum hadn’t intervened at school, I would have flown under the radar and I probably would have been hospitalised. I was diagnosed with stress-induced anxiety halfway through high school. The school barely knew what anxiety was so didn’t know how to “deal” with me. Their solution was “don’t be stressed!!!!”
Since I graduated, they’ve introduced a therapy dog. Doesn’t help that their counsellor still doesn’t have any emotional intelligence.

Answer

I think it should depend on whether or not its a realistic stress load.  
Stress in life is unavoidable and can at times have a positive impact on drive and determination to complete tasks.  
If parents and teachers coddle kids whenever they’re stressed, they’re actually doing them a disservice. 
Instead of coddling parents and teachers should teach healthy coping techniques and ways to destress.

Answer

I teach second grade and I 100% care and act on the stress of my students even if their 7. They’re well being is more important to me than anything else. I stay up half the night worrying about some them.

Answer

The fact that this includes employers throws me off. I believe teachers should, and they often do because they’re amazing. Employers, on the other hand, don’t necessarily have to. It sounds insensitive, but at the end of the day you’re at work to do a job. They should reasonably try and accommodate you if you’re going through something especially traumatic, but day to day stresses should be expected and you need to handle them while at work.

Answer

I mean... Maybe I'm the weird one here.. but Ive never stressed over anything. 
I've gotten mad about things and took a few hours of simmering to get over it or address it. Ive been sad about shit.. but stress is kind of a useless feeling to have.
That being said.. obviously "normal" people stress about stuff... And if a teacher can help a student through it.. then cool.. if not then cool. Some people are good at helping people with emotional support and some people aren't.. for those who are they probably see no problem trying to help a person out regardless of if it's a student or just someone they see having a clearly shitty day.

Answer

If the school has pastoral care, I'd hope that the teacher would refer her students to them.

Should teachers and employers care/act on the stress of their students or employees?

The Top Baby Tracker App: Embrace New Beginnings with Tender Care

The Top Fertility Tracker App: Your Path to Achieving Pregnancy

The Top Pregnancy App: Nurturing Your Journey to Motherhood

The Top Period Tracker for Empowering Your Menstrual Health Journey