Schools and School Psychologists’ Role in Reducing Teacher Stress: Advantages, Challenges, and Future Directions

Teaching is a highly stressful occupation. School psychologists, because of their training and expertise in group dynamics, consultation, and mental health service delivery, are well-positioned to support teacher mental health. These supports are broadly aligned with consultation, collaboration, and systems-level services that support positive learning environments. However, work demands, role constraints, and ethical considerations create complexities around school psychologists providing these direct supports to teachers. There are also school-level factors and feasibility issues that could impact addressing teacher mental health directly in the workplace. This manuscript highlights the importance of teacher mental health, why schools are a unique context for supporting teacher mental health, the advantages and drawbacks of schools and school psychologists delivering these services, and possible steps forward to reconcile these issues. This work has implications for trainers, practitioners, and school administrators working together to support schools to function as healthy settings.