Anna Freud have released a fabulous new free Staff Wellbeing Resource aimed at nurseries, preschools and other early years and childcare settings.

It offers practical guidance on how settings can support the mental health of their staff.  It also contains some particularly interesting findings from a survey that they sent out to early years staff - regarding their mental health needs and experiences. Almost 1,500 nursery staff responded to this survey. From this survey they discovered that nursery staff love their work, and many feel their settings are actively engaging with staff mental health and achieving positive results. But, less than half (47%) were aware of whether their nursery had a mental health and wellbeing policy in place, and where there was no known policy in place, staff stress levels were found to be higher.

Nursery staff also said that the pandemic had taken its toll on their mental health, with 50% reporting that they felt unwell as a result of work-related stress during the past year and 66% reporting that the pandemic had impacted their wellbeing and mental health.  The main areas which staff felt could make a difference to the wellbeing of staff were thought to be:

• Supporting each other
• Supportive management
• The work environment
• Help in accessing outside support

Anna Freud’s free resource looks into how settings can excel in all these four areas. It also includes a range of practical tips and ideas on how to champion staff wellbeing, and an activity checklist designed to enable settings to implement permanent changes and monitor their progress. Click here to access this great new resource!