We need mentally healthy teachers to help our students learn and thrive. Yes, keeping junk food out of the teachers’ lounge and encouraging physical wellbeing is important. But, school leaders cannot ignore the mental health of their teachers.

What areas of wellbeing should leaders be focusing on?

According to Gallup there are 5 elements of wellbeing. These elements are the stuff in life that matters. They don’t include all aspects of what's important in life. But, they do embody five broad categories that are vital to most people.

1.     Career Well-Being: you like what you do every day.

2.     Social Well-Being: you have meaningful friendships in your life.

3.     Financial Well-Being: you manage your money well.

4.     Physical Well-Being: you have energy to get things done.

5.     Community Well-Being: you like where you live.

An emotionally intelligent leader asks: “What percentage of my people are suffering, struggling or thriving and how can I help?”

1.     Put well-being goal-setting and milestones in your 1-1 meetings.  Encourage teachers to track their well-being goals. This will also improve employee engagement (“I feel cared for”) and deepen your manager-employee relationship. Ask, "Is there a facet of your well-being that I can support?"

2.     Explicitly connect a well-being activity to one of the five elements. The five elements of well-being add intensity to the notion of "feeling cared about," which is a key element of engagement. Individualize activities to each teacher's situation through conversation and by creating a focused set of goals.

School leaders should also show how the five elements are important school values. Communication that emphasizes that leadership cares about the wellbeing of teachers and their families increases engagement.

Schools will benefit enormously by adding wellbeing to their staff development programs. Teacher performance will improve and consequently so too will student performance.