Therapy for teachers

Therapy for Teachers

Have You Been Overwhelmed By The Responsibilities Of Teaching?

Are you a teacher who finds yourself stressed, angry, or suffering from burnout due to all the responsibilities that come with the school year? Is your workload taking away from your passion of educating the students? Do you have high levels of stress and anxiety in the classroom because you’ve been dealing with a lack of support?

You probably became an educator because you loved teaching. But, as you know, any given day for teachers can turn into an unpredictable whirlwind of counseling, correcting, disciplining, debating, and comforting your students and colleagues. 

Sometimes, Even Teachers Need A Little Guidance

A lot of times, you may feel alone in your struggles, as if no one around you could possibly understand the challenges that you’re facing. But the truth is, stress and mental fatigue is affecting a wide range of teachers just like you. 

With the mounting pressure put onto you by your students, their parents, and the administrators, it’s normal to feel stressed and overworked. Whether you’re a first-year teacher trying to catch your bearings or a seasoned veteran trying to adapt to the changing times, it’s important to get support for your anxiety and burnout. 

If you’re a teacher who feels like you’re serving an education system that no longer serves your passion for helping students, then I encourage you to look into our therapy services. We can work together to safely identify, acknowledge, and address what you’re feeling regarding your responsibilities. 

As A Teacher, It’s Normal To Feel Burnt Out

With the constant expectation to lead and teach, it can be easy to forget that you, too, need to seek peace in your own emotional well-being. In fact, according to a survey conducted by RAND’s American Teacher Panel, teachers are twice as likely to report anxiety and stress due to their jobs, and almost three times more likely to report symptoms of depression than the general public. 

What’s more, with the emphasis on test scores and navigating a system that struggles to promote growth and development, you may often feel as if you’re letting your students and their parents down. You may long for the days when children were the priority and education was geared towards teaching instead of numbers.

Many teachers can’t handle the amount of pressure placed on them. Some are even leaving the field of education due to the overwhelming amount of stress that comes with the job. The pandemic has definitely exacerbated the challenges in the school system, and at times, it can seem like you just can’t help the children that are lost or struggling to catch up. 

The lack of support you feel can lead to having your emotions stretched thin, causing you to act differently towards your friends and family outside of the workplace. You might want to be there for those that you care about, but lately you feel too drained and exhausted.  

Therapy with Beyond The Mask gives you a safe space to identify what you’re feeling, acknowledge the reason you feel this way, and overcome the emotions that hold you back. Our goal is to empower you to break through your emotional hurdles so that you can help your students fulfill their potential and give yourself the care and attention you need. 

Therapy For Teachers Can Help You Empower Your Students And Learn The Value Of Self-Care 

If you’re looking for counseling services, then we’re pleased to let you know that we offer both individual and group sessions for teachers. At Beyond The Mask, you can expect to address the key challenges and catalysts for your depression, frustration, stress, and powerful emotions.

It is important to establish healthy boundaries and create a plan of action for your personal and overall mental well-being. Therapy also helps you navigate toxic thought patterns and break free from negative beliefs so that you can focus on things in the scope of your control. 

What To Expect In Therapy For Teachers

We begin with an intake process in order to figure out which therapist would match best with you, based on your individual goals and needs. After that happens, we will use a wide range of solution-oriented techniques to help you move forward on the right path of self-care and healing so that you can be the best version of yourself for both you and your students.

In subsequent sessions, you will learn how to navigate difficult situations and scenarios—as well as receive tools to ground yourself when you’re dealing with stress, discomfort, or anxiety in the classroom. We draw from a wide range of modalities and adapt our treatment based on the strategies that work best for you. These include:

• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR): a technique that uses a series of eye movements to help the brain to heal from traumatic memories and experiences
• Brainspotting: a brain-based, therapeutic treatment that uses visual cues to help the brain access and heal from unprocessed trauma
• Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT): a treatment that uses skills-building methods and techniques to help you cope with the emotions that hold you back and accept the challenges that you face in life—no matter how big or small
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): an empirically-supported approach to counseling that helps connect your thoughts and behavior, all while challenging negative thinking patterns and building coping skills to enhance your emotional insight 

As important as it is to show up for your students, it’s equally important to value yourself and practice self-care. You have to be willing to grow and improve your own well-being before you can enrich the lives of your students. This is why we also offer a wide range of mindfulness and meditation techniques to help you cope with the overwhelming challenges that come with the school day. Having a toolbox of coping skills at your disposal can help you self-regulate and decrease the risk of panic, mental breakdowns, and anxiety attacks.

In the end, we are confident that therapy can help you teach without feeling as stressed and learn new ways to enrich the lives of your students. Most importantly, we want to help you enrich your own life, too. 

Maybe You’re Still Trying To Figure Out If Therapy Is Right For You… 

I don’t have time in my busy schedule to attend therapy…

We know how difficult it can be to add another task to your already busy schedule. This is why our practice is committed to supporting you in a flexible way. We offer online therapy sessions so that you can receive the help and support you need at whichever time and place you’d prefer.

How will therapy help me navigate the unique challenges of our school system?

While it takes work, change is always possible. It may feel as if there’s no hope sometimes, especially if your administrators aren’t very committed to promoting a positive work environment. 

But once you understand the problems, therapy can help you figure out solutions. This, in turn, can help you pass your newfound skills and knowledge to others so that you can change the work environment from within.

Trying to find a therapist who is right for me seems impossible… 

At Beyond The Mask, we believe that counseling is about more than just filling out worksheets and venting your feelings. If you’ve tried therapy in the past and it hasn’t worked for you, it is possible that the therapist’s style didn’t fit the needs that you require as a teacher. But no matter what you need on your healing journey, our therapists are trained and committed to supporting you on your wellness journey as you identify what it takes to have the life you deserve. 

Let Therapy For Teachers Help You Maintain Your Mental Peace

If you’re a teacher who’s been trying to overcome the mental hurdles that come with the overwhelming school year, then finding a counselor who understands the field of education can help you heal and thrive—at work and at home.

If you’re ready to take the next step, then I encourage you to visit my contact page or call 704 – 741 – 0919 to schedule an initial screening appointment. I look forward to hearing from you!