rant/hot take: teachers who don't understand mental health should be fired

Any professional who doesn't understand mental health issues should be fired imo. I get tired of forever having to explain my anxiety to frickin' people who don't suffer therefore don't understand. It should be a mandatory part of their training to educate themselves so they know what their clients deal with daily.

Agreed. It seems a lot of teachers do the opposite of helping mental problems, and that sucks. We need better mental health care more than ever.

so true. I learned a long time ago that most don't care. I stopped trusting them. I gave a very clear cry for help (I have a hard time asking for it directly) and they gave me some fucking bullshit and proceeded to kick me out and out me to my mom. Never fucking again

As someone studying to become a teacher, 100%. I've experienced them not caring in my hs experience and I'm determined never to become someone like that. It's a shame not many care in this profession when it's so important as educators to maintain boundaries and have empathy, I'm sorry you had to go through that

Quote from VioletPunisherr

this reminds me of my experience. god it is so fucking horrible. i hope you're okay right now

It really is. And okay is stretching it, just taking it day by day. And teachers that don't understand that outing a kid is never good should also be fired immediately 😤

Nah I agree, teachers who don't value mental health are just even more detrimental to students who already have to deal with school, home environments, finance etc, whatever is affecting them in the first place. Teachers who do and are there for students however are absolute gems.

Teacher who treat students like shit in general should be fired but those who act like assholes to students with mental health issues are the worse of them.

I agree with you. People who don't understand mental health should not be working with kids/students.

Also I feel like mental health training should be implemented to a lot of professions, most of all to teachers but it applies to police officers and the like as well!

last thing you want is to be a the lowest point in life and thinking dying is better than continuing only to get tazed and handcuffed and processed as a criminal for loosely related crimes. I've seen people who've discovered that the lowest point in life has a basement and its a long road to recovery from there.

I think there needs to be more professional development focused around how we, as educators, can aid our students when it comes to their mental health. Most PD is focused around data, assessments, standardized testing, and how WE as professionals should be looking out for our mental health (which, by the way, they don't even give us a chance to, so it's all BS anyway.) I want to believe that those of us who are younger/more open-minded are more willing to reach out to our students to see how we can help, but there's always those that do not. If they just blatantly refuse to change their ways, then I will agree that they should be looking for another job.

I want to make a sidenote, as well...that many times, it is not teachers who are making things difficult for students, it's administration and the higher ups. They demand that teachers provide proof of whatever, that they pester you/your parents to know why you are not or have not been in school lately. It's a lot of having to chase people around just for funding purposes. However, the way a teacher approaches this is important. You can't just go out and be like "Tell me why you weren't in class NOW," and demand things.

That said, please don't think we are all like this. It sucks, though, that we have to say this because I know that those few people ruin it for the rest of us, and most importantly, they ruin it for their STUDENTS. One of the biggest things we are trained on is building relationships with our students, and this teacher is not doing that at all. That teacher should be willing to listen to you only what you want to share, and not be trying to cross any boundary because you are HUMAN, and you deserve to be listened to and given the space you need and want. Do not listen to this teacher, don't give them any more information than you need or want to. Put yourself first at all times.

Sorry for the long post. I just have A LOT of thoughts on the subject. Especially this year. They claim to be putting students first but it's never that way. It's always about the money and appearances.