Introduce
What does ‘self-care’ mean when working in early years practice and why does self-care matter in professional work?
Self-care for professionals is about actively looking after your own mental health and wellbeing so that you can more effectively support the babies and children that you work with. The concept of self-care is similar to the safety procedures on an aircraft:
In the unlikely event of an emergency, fit your own oxygen mask first, before attending to children or dependents.
Watch the video below outlining the importance of staff wellbeing:
Develop
Supporting the development of young children can be challenging. The current funding pressures result in needing to ‘do more with less’, and to work within uncertain and restrictive contexts. Working with infants who might need a lot of support can test our patience and push us to our limits.
The Early Years Alliance has published a new report shining a light on the mental health and wellbeing of the early years workforce.
Read: Minds Still Matter
This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the results of an Alliance survey of early educators, conducted earlier this year, which found that:
More than eight in ten (81%) were regularly stressed about a work-related issue during the month prior to the survey.
In the past year around two-thirds (67%) suffered with anxiety, fatigue (65%) and loss of motivation (64%)
A third (35%) are considering leaving the sector due to stress and mental health difficulties.
The good news is that it isn’t just your responsibility to take care of yourself. Organisations must reflect on what it means to create a mentally healthy workforce and how to respond to the mental health and wellbeing challenges of staff.
Hear more about how Reception Teacher, Nikki Singleton, from St Catherine’s Catholic School in Wigan takes care of her own wellbeing in the video below:
Reflect
Stop and Reflect: Consider how much time you focus on your physical health. Maybe you think about eating healthily, doing exercise, seeing the optician or go to the GP when you need to. How much time do you focus on your mental health? Do you give your mental health the same time and energy?
How might you prioritise your mental health moving forward? What might your self-care plan look like? Your Mind Plan can help you to take simple steps to look after your mental health and find what works for you Your mind plan (phe.gov.uk)