Supporting young children and their families can be immensely rewarding but also physically and emotionally draining. If we want our early years staff to do what is asked of them, then we need to make sure that their mental health and wellbeing is effectively supported.
The simplest way to understand what early years staff need to support their mental health is to ask them. However, many early years settings do not regularly survey staff to establish their levels of wellbeing.
Within this video, Dr Abi Miranda, the Head of Early Years and Prevention at the Anna Freud Centre, discusses wellbeing in early years settings with a focus on wellbeing and intersectionality and tips for practitioner and managers.
Our Wellbeing measurement for early years settings resource provides sets of questions to help early years settings better understand their staff and provide them with the support they need. It includes tools that can be used to measure wellbeing robustly and consistently.
You can use these sets of questions to find out:
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How early years staff are feeling
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What is driving good and poor mental health (including asking staff how they feel about work practices, culture, engagement and management)
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How supported staff feel
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Whether staff feel equipped to support children with their mental health
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Any additional support they need for their mental health and wellbeing.
Early years settings may want to use the whole survey or may want to select sections from it, depending on priorities and needs.