Season 8 Episode 129
What is the difference between mental health and mental fitness? Listen to this episode to find out!
Show notes:
Episode Summary:
Every day, you pour energy, empathy, and effort into your students—but how often do you check in on yourself?
In recent years, mental health has taken center stage in public conversations, classrooms, and staff meetings. The growing awareness is long overdue: stress, anxiety, and burnout are no longer silent struggles—they’re now widely recognized challenges in schools across the globe. And while we focus heavily (and rightly) on student well-being, one critical group is often overlooked: teachers.
The emotional weight of teaching—especially in today’s fast-paced, high-pressure education system—can take a serious toll. That’s why it’s time to talk about mental fitness—not just for our students, but for ourselves. Building mental strength and resilience isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity for thriving both in and out of the classroom.
Note:
These show notes are not a word-for-word transcript. Here, we highlight the key topics. For the best experience, we suggest that you listen to the episode.
Introduction:
We are happy to bring you today’s guest, Alyson Schaefer.
Alyson Schaefer is a passionate mental health advocate, seasoned educator, and visionary leader dedicated to fostering resilience and well-being in individuals and communities. Alyson has over 30 years of experience as a high school teacher.
Driven by her personal experiences and a deep belief in the transformative power of education, Alyson founded Fitness 4 The Mind, a non-profit organization focused on promoting mental health and resilience. Through educational workshops and community outreach initiatives, the organization raises awareness and empowers individuals of all ages to prioritize their mental well-being.
In addition to her non-profit work, Alyson is the founder of Education Beyond the Classroom, which addresses issues such as mental health, online safety, and human trafficking. Alyson provides resources and education to schools, businesses, and communities to create safer and more supportive environments.
Alyson’s dedication to advocacy, education, and community impact inspires others to take action and create meaningful change, fostering a healthier, more compassionate world.
Show Topics:
What inspired you to pursue topics connected to mental health after you left teaching?
Alyson’s journey began many years ago when she was teaching and found herself having a panic attack. It was very difficult and she found there was no one to talk to about it. She has also seen the suicides in schools and feels that we need to do something to help prevent suicides.
Mental Health versus Mental Fitness
Mental health is how we think, act or behave. We all have mental health.
Mental illness is when our thinking or actions or behavior is challenged due to some type of mental illness.
Mental fitness is the ability to handle life’s challenges, building and being resilient. It is having coping skills in place. We understand that life is not always going to be easy, but we have the tools to manage the challenges. It isn’t just thinking about our mental health but doing something about our mental health. We are actively taking care of our mental health.
It is not unlike physical fitness, it is an ongoing effort.
We all need to build up our ability to handle challenges. We should be normalizing that we all have challenges and it is expected rather than challenges being thought of us something abnormal.
Teachers have challenges every single day, they need a mental armor to help them deal with challenges.
Alyson discusses giving students a questionnaire to help her to connect with her students. She asked them about their challenges or what they wanted her to know about them. You can support students better when you understand their challenges.
This is also a useful idea for connecting with our teaching teams. What kinds of support do they need? How can we support each other? Teachers need to support each other, which helps us to build resilience.
We’ve had guests on the podcast who discussed working with trauma informed education and another who talked about mindfulness education. We’ve also talked about stress and ways to reducing stress. That seems like an ongoing conversation that we all need. These are ongoing practices that help teachers and students with their mental health.
Adopting a Mental Fitness Routine
Alyson compared mental fitness to physical fitness. We go to the gym or exercise to help our physical fitness.
We also need to build a daily habit for focusing on our mental fitness. We can start by adopting small daily activities, such as taking a mindful moment. This also includes whatever you do for self-care.
Mental fitness includes being present, living and paying attention in the moment. Focus on the here and now.
Strategies for Mental Health
Start out with small daily activities so that they are achievable- like SMART goals.
For example, start with a daily mindful minutes. Then add things that offer you self-care as you build the routine. You can also remove things that aren’t working for you, which is equally important.
” You need to fill our cup like you fill your water bottle- every day.”
What fills your cup? Understand yourself and what you need. For example, eating a quiet lunch in your room or going for a walk may be a way you fill your cup.
Mantras can also be a way to remind you of your needs or something that helps you get out of the thinking pattern you are in. Her example, was to remind herself of her power. This is also something that you can teach students. At Inspired Together Learning, we often talk about
“My 3 Words” which is choosing three words that remind you of who you want to be in the world and putting those words in a place where you can see them often. ( We link to this below.)
The Power of Teachers as a Role Model
The things we do for our own mental health will often be reflected in our students. Sometimes we teach them those things, other times they just pick things up from us.
We are all more powerful than we know. We do have influence on students. Sometimes you will know how you influence students, but sometimes you will never find out. Either way, you are modeling for them. How you deal with challenges is a chance for them to see and learn ways to handle challenges for themselves.
Strategies Teachers Can Use to Focus on Mental Fitness
Give students questionnaires to get to know them and their challenges.
Create a comfortable safe, supportive environment. Put up motivational posters. Focus on “No blame and no shame.”
Normalize talking about mental wellness. Share fun facts. Talk about how our failures build resilience.
Normalize therapy, it is not just for people with mental illnesses. Many of us need someone to talk to who might help us clarity our thoughts.
Talk about empathy, discuss empathy in situations as it comes up.
Meditation- use a video or do a verbal meditation with reflection. Apply it to life.
Do a body scan for yourself or with students.
Bring students along with you. Let them share and model strategies. Talk with them and listen.
You can do these types of things throughout the day or connect it to existing content lessons. It doesn’t need to be a curriculum, it can occur by noticing opportunities and being intentional in talking about or modeling mental fitness concepts.
Closing
If our audience walks away with just one message or takeaway from this conversation, what would you like it to be?
As a teacher, be authentic and as real as you can with your colleagues and students. Be who you are. We often think teaching is a thankless job, but many, many people are very thankful for what you do. Remember that you do make a difference. Remember why you do what you do.
Quote:
” You need to fill your cup like you fill your water bottle- every day.”
Alyson Schaefer
Resources mentioned in this episode:
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More About Inspired Together Teachers:
Are you a teacher struggling to balance your best work with your best life?
If you are dedicated and caring but often overwhelmed and exhausted, join us at Inspired Together Teachers. We’ll give you inspiration, strategies and tips that help you navigate life’s challenges as a stronger, more confident, and more joy filled person, both in and out of the classroom.
Inspired Together Teachers will give you practical tools to experience more of what matters most in your life.
Co-hosts Paula Schmidt and Michele Vosberg are award winning educators with the experience and skills to help teachers thrive in life and work. They’ve taught at all levels, worked with thousands of teachers, and conducted workshops around the world. They are also the authors of the #1 best-selling book The Inspired Teachers Journal: A Weekly Guide to Becoming Your Best Self.
Paula and Michele would love to have you to join them on their quest to live inspired lives.
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