Who Will Care for the Teachers: A Podcast on Teacher Depression

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18% of the population. During this episode, Franchesca Warren breaks tradition and  talks with not one but four fellow teachers who suffer from depression and how working in public schools may have affected their condition. This conversation started with an article entitled, "Who Will Care for the Teachers?" and after many discussions, we decided to start the conversation around depression and the stigma attached to it.  But that leads us to ask, what about the teachers who find themselves in similar situations?

All of the teachers gets deeply personal as they discuss their individual diagnosis and how they have started to care for themselves so their "lows" don't go any lower. During this episode we discuss,

• their collective definitions of depression,
• how having a clinical diagnosis of depression can be used to in discussions with your administration,
• strategies for principals and central office to introduce mindfulness at schools,
• the stigma associated with depression and how we can overcome those stigmas to ask for help.

To listen to the episode, click below. You can also listen to the episode in iTunes and Stitcher!