The Quiet Gap

There is no shortage of wellbeing programs in schools.

Many of them are thoughtful, evidence informed, and deeply committed to supporting young people. Social emotional learning, behaviour supports, trauma informed practice and student mental health initiatives, these matter and are incredibly important in our current climate.

But there is a quiet gap that I think we have all become aware of. 

In many schools, staff wellbeing is included as a module, a session or a slide show. It's something that sits alongside the real work rather than being recognised as the foundation of it.

And yet, the people holding our young people, families and their colleagues every day are human first.

Teachers, leaders and support staff carry cognitive load, emotional labour, moral responsibility, constant decision making and the weight of being steady in systems that are often anything but. They are asked to regulate others while consistently overriding their own signals. To show up calm, patient, and relational while their own nervous systems are stretched thin.

We talk about 1 in 5 children having adverse childhood experiences but these don't disappear into adulthood. Complex and simple traumas are just as true for adults as they are for young people. And yet we do not hold space for these facts and the impacts they have not only on the individual but on their home and work life. 

When we focus almost exclusively on student wellbeing without being fully aware of, and resourcing, staff wellbeing, we are asking people to pour from reserves they do not have. And we cannot be shocked or surprised when attrition rates continue to rise and mental health continues to decline.

We need to shift our attitudes about adult mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Wellbeing is not about a one off session or a generic program, it is not an add on or a quick fix, it is about centering every human being in the work space and building their individual capacity to understand, regulate, and sustain themselves over time.

When adults are supported to recognise their own stress responses, complete stress cycles, restore capacity, and feel psychologically safe, everything else becomes more possible. Relationships strengthen, decision making improves and reactivity decreases. And, in the long term, there is a noticeable culture shift.

Supporting young people and supporting staff are not competing priorities. But they are sequential ones. If we want students to feel regulated, safe, and connected, we must start with the nervous systems of the adults in the room. This is not about lowering standards or expectations. It is about acknowledging reality and responding to it with integrity.

Wellbeing work that truly lasts begins by recognising the human first.