June 2, 2016: By James Wells 

Talk to most teachers, and they’ll tell you their job involves a fair share of stress.

Many published studies show some stress can be good. It hones focus and helps you get things done. But too much stress can be very, very bad. It can lead to burnouts and breakdowns, and exasperate or even cause mental illness.

For teachers, this is pronounced, as they face pressures from parents, administrators, kids and the education system as a whole. In this environment, Rachel Clements, co-founder and psychological services director at the Centre for Corporate Health, offers some tips on de-stressing for teachers.

Her first two tips may seem self-evident, though Clements said they are essential so that teacher’s work doesn’t cause them to tear their hair out:

1.       Make sure you have time to do what you enjoy:

“For some people, it might be exercise. For some people, it might be just not doing too much and allowing that time to reboot and recharge. For others, it might be staying connected with friends and family. With others, it might be just making sure that you’re using your energy wisely. For others, it might be doing interesting hobbies and things that you really enjoy and just really boosting up opportunities for positive emotion.”

2. Don’t take your work home with you:

“We can find ourselves thinking about work when we’re not at work. Worrying about things. Worrying about emails coming in or tasks that you’ve got to do and demands and pressures. If we’re not using some active management techniques to just compartmentalise our stress – to compartmentalise that negative stress – it can have the potential to spill over and become our whole life.”

Listen to a podcast with Rachel Clements here.

Education Review sat down with Rachel Clements to talk more about how to stress less. She is due to speak on this topic at an upcoming conference.  

This article was originally published in Education Review.