The Sharpham Trust recently organised a mindfulness retreat aimed at educators. Although the event has already taken place, they continue to organise mindfulness retreats aimed at those who suffer from ‘burn-out’ throughout the year. This kind of retreat is ideal for someone working as a teacher, carer, activist or campaigner.

The retreats take place at Sharpham House in Devon, a grade-listed building with beautiful gardens that help attendees connect with nature. They incorporate meditation, reflection, building resilience and self-care. Particular emphasis is placed on recognising the early signs of burn-out and combating against it.
 

Vegetarian food is provided during the retreat and is made fresh in the Sharpham House kitchen. Those with allergies and intolerances can also be catered for, but will need to inform the kitchen ahead of their stay. The retreats cost £385-£495 for four days.
 

These retreats are not the only of their kind – there has been a real drive recently to encourage teachers to connect with mindfulness techniques in order to better manage stress and potential burn-out. Many teachers can suffer from work related depression or have difficulty managing stress. This is true of all teachers – from primary right up to university educators. New teachers can find work particularly challenging, as a lack of experience can make them more susceptible to panic attacks, insomnia and anxiety.
 

The Journal of Affective Disorders published a study that examined links between teacher and student wellbeing and found that there were associations between student and teacher wellbeing and psychological distress, as well as associations between teacher depression and student wellbeing, probably due to the quality of student-teacher relationships being impacted. This proves that it is important to manage teachers’ mental health in order to provide the best learning environment.

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