Duty of Care

16th Jan 2021

This happened two days ago. I wasn't going to cover this ...

A very large part of my job is the pastoral care of my year group and as it's such a big part of my working life, personal approach and teaching practice, I feel it's pertinent. Not for the first time this term, I got a long email from a student telling me how troubled and anxious they are feeling. This came right at the end of day as I was about to shutdown .. around 7.30pm. A long heartfelt plea where the student so heart-wrenchingly opened up ... forced to remain alone in student digs in London over Christmas due to getting struck with Covid, (potentially) attacked at work before that, seeing their friends on video calls back home in a Covid free zone enjoying the normal festivities, being curt off from family ... concluding that suicide had felt to be a viable option. These cries for help are always gut wrenching as Year Leader ... but at the same time, they are testament to the relationship I build with my year groups' students each year. I immediately emailed back and set up a Teams call. We spoke. I assured them that their deadline fro submission (a regular trigger for fraught anxiety) was not an issue, we can sort all that out, but that they must if possible get themselves home to their family. Setting them up with a call with our Mental Health First Aider for the next morning and Student Counselling ... I was happy to receive word rom the student that they were alright ... that they were grateful and that they had now arranged a passage home. Our MH First Aider emailed after they'd spoken to the student to say "I am SO glad you were able to be there for ... last night." And so was I. This is part of my role as an educator here. I take student well-being incredibly seriously ... for - in my opinion - without their well-being being at the forefront, how will they attain and achieve in their studies. I'm here to mentor them towards being young professionals. I work with them as people first ... I want to get to know them as individuals, guide them ... mentor them. Maybe that's old fashioned ... but I don't see any point in being detached, not as their year leader certainly.