Supporting Educators - Beyond Teacher Appreciation Week

The conversation around educator well-being was front and center at the 2024 California Association of School Counselors conference. Across the country, teachers, counselors, and school staff are being asked to serve as lifelines for students and families, often while quietly struggling with their own mental health. The challenge isn’t just about individual resilience; it’s about whether the education system itself is set up to support the people at its core.

Ashley Kruger, an Educational Consultant with Hatching Results and a recognized leader in school counseling, captured this dilemma. She pointed out that while educators are expected to provide stability and care for students, they often lack access to the same supports and services for themselves. Many educators face barriers to mental health resources, whether due to time, stigma, or simply not knowing where to turn. The result is a stretched-thin workforce, expected to model resilience and self-regulation without the infrastructure to sustain it.

One of the most important ideas to emerge from the conference was the need to move beyond “one and done” approaches to self-care. It’s common for schools to offer a week of wellness activities or a day of appreciation, but as many educators noted, these gestures, while appreciated, don’t address the deeper need for ongoing support. True self-care for educators isn’t about a single event or a temporary perk. It’s about embedding care into the daily fabric of school life, with districts investing real time and resources so that self-care becomes a regular, supported practice, not just an afterthought.

There’s also a growing recognition that appreciation, while important, isn’t enough on its own. Feeling valued is meaningful, but it doesn’t automatically build the skills or resilience needed to navigate the daily challenges of teaching. Systemic change means creating space for educators to process stress, access mental health services, and participate in activities that genuinely restore their energy. This could look like a scheduled time for mindfulness, peer support groups, or professional development focused on well-being.

The conversation also touched on the ripple effect of educator well-being. When teachers and counselors are supported, they are better able to show up for students, not just academically, but emotionally. A healthy, resilient staff models the very skills and attitudes that students need to thrive. Conversely, when educator self-care is neglected, it becomes harder to break cycles of burnout and disengagement.

A key takeaway from these discussions is that educator self-care must be seen as a collective, systemic responsibility. It’s not just up to individuals to “try harder” to take care of themselves; schools and districts need to create environments where self-care is possible and prioritized. This shift requires leadership, investment, and a willingness to rethink how we define success in education.

For those seeking practical guidance and evidence-based strategies, Ashley Kruger’s work with Hatching Results and her contributions to books like Hatching Tier Two and Three Interventions in Your Elementary School Counseling Program offer hands-on tools for building supportive school systems.

Supporting Educators - Beyond Teacher Appreciation Week

Transcript:

"Educators in general—all educators—really need access to more supports and services for their own mental health because we are asked to go in and be the lifeline for our students and families. Meanwhile, we are struggling inside with our own mental health, and there’s not always an opportunity or even access to resources to support us with that.

How do we create a system within the school where self-care is not just this one-and-done thing? It’s not like, “Oh, we’re going to do a week of fun things, and that’s going to make everything better.” Instead, it needs to be embedded into the system, where districts are actually investing time and money into allowing educators to engage in self-care activities on a regular basis, not just every so often.

"Teacher appreciation?"

"Yeah, that doesn’t do it. It’s nice to feel appreciated, but it definitely doesn’t allow us to build the skills and the resilience that’s needed to be an educator."

-Ashley Kruger