The education profession attracts natural nurturers. People who want to see others flourish and grow in confidence and knowledge. It’s a purposeful vocation which provides perhaps the most important societal value – but it’s also challenging and frustrating at the best of times. And the last few years certainly have not been the best of times. Practitioners have had to add carer, nurse, mental health support, cleaner, and even cost of living support to their already jampacked job descriptions. And in putting caring for others at the very top of the list, that sometimes means caring for yourself moves to the bottom.

Since March 2022, we’ve been running Wellbeing Supervision Sessions with practitioners from across Scotland. These sessions are dedicated time and space for practitioners to focus on their own wellbeing “putting on their own oxygen mask before helping others”. We use the NHS wellbeing planning tool at the core of the sessions – a very easy and accessible tool to help people focus on their own wellbeing, and we practice a few wellbeing techniques as part of the sessions. But most importantly, this is time and space to connect and share with others and explore your own wellbeing warning signs.

We usually start each cohort quietly – people don’t quite know what to expect, and they're slightly nervous about sharing their vulnerabilities in front of strangers. But those strangers quickly realise that they have a lot in common, that their feelings and their warning signs are not unique and are certainly not a sign of weakness. Often people are saying something out loud for the first time, whether that’s – I can’t switch off, I’m not sleeping, I feel disconnected from my friends or I’m just not exercising the way I used to. They’ve maybe asked wellbeing questions thousands of times to other people but never been asked themselves.

Identifying the warning sign and what might trigger them is the first step to taking action to recover good wellbeing. We are very rarely talking about revolutionary actions or grand life reinventions. It's usually simple, small steps that we can incorporate into our daily lives – a good sleep routine, a 10 min walk, a social meeting with a colleague, an extra glass of water a day and a few breathing and stretching exercises that can interrupt the stress response etc.

The tools and action plan are important, they help us embed the best practice. But what is most impactful about these sessions is the space and time. The opportunity to focus on self-care rather than others. Asking the question of ourselves – am I ok? – and then really listening to our response.

Supervision Spaces is part of Education Scotland’s Supporting Workforce Wellbeing offering for 22-23.