School leaders are adopting innovative approaches to support the health and overall wellbeing of their staff.
Greg Sadler, executive principal at Lawrie Infants and Admirals Academy in Thetford, has employed award-winning mind management consultant and hypnotherapist Melanie Davis to provide his team with a programme of stress management and resilience coaching combined with hypnotherapy.
“There’s a lot of talk about wellbeing in the workplace, but the strategies used are very superficial and the impact is minimal,” Sadler said.
“We wanted to ensure that teachers had the right support, were given practical tools and had realistic options for managing all aspects of their health and wellbeing.
“Educational settings can be stressful and demanding environments for staff, so providing the right support to help your team manage stress and improve their wellbeing generally means everyone wins. Healthy, happy teachers and staff are able to do their best for children.”
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The Educator Mindset Solutions program, designed by Melanie Davies Mind Solutions, combines therapeutic knowledge with years of educational expertise.
Mrs Davies, 55, began her teaching career at Admirals Secondary School more than 30 years ago before moving to Newmarket where she was head of English and drama at St Felix Secondary School.
She spent the last 11 years of her teaching career at Newmarket Academy where she was an English teacher and Director of Teaching and Learning, as well as working as a teacher educator and delivering training for the Government’s Early Careers Framework.
Alongside her work at the school, Mrs Davis gained training and experience as a clinical hypnotherapist before leaving the classroom to work in therapy full time.
Mrs Davies said: “It’s not uncommon for hypnotherapy and stress management coaching to be available in the corporate sector but until now this hasn’t been available to mainstream school educators.”
“Hypnotherapy often produces quicker results than traditional talking therapies, making it a highly effective intervention in the workplace.”
Mr Sadler will now be sharing this innovative approach to caring for staff with leaders of other schools within the Eastern Multi-Academy Trust.
