Headteacher wellbeing and coaching

Headteacher wellbeing

Being a headteacher is a high pressured role.  The high stakes accountability system and a sense of isolation can mean that headteachers need to access external support to talk through situations and pressures.  A range of alternatives exist.

Introduction to Vivup’s Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)

Please note that Vivup’s Employee Assistance Programme is accessible to School staff, where Shropshire Council is the employer.

From mid-April 2025, we have a new counselling provider – Vivup - who also deliver our employee benefits platform which offers a range of lifestyle savings.  Vivup’s Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is available to all employees and free of charge.

Vivup’s EAP provides confidential, impartial assistance to help you in times of need, on personal and work-related issues. 

 The EAP includes:

  • 24/7, 365 days a year telephone helpline
  • short-term counselling service 
  • online health and wellbeing platform – Your Care 

Ways to access the EAP 

There are 3 ways you can contact the telephone helpline/counselling service:

  • Telephone: 0330 380 0658 
  • Through Your Care Platform which is accessed through Vivup’s employee benefits platform. You need to register with the employee benefits platform to access.
  • By completing an accessibility form on Your Care requesting the team make contact.

Telephone helpline/counselling service

Vivup’s telephone helpline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. You can speak to a professional counsellor or information specialist in confidence. 

The telephone helpline is a source of support for information on a wide range of work, family, and personal issues.  There is unlimited access to the telephone helpline for calls that do not require structured counselling sessions.

 Here are some examples of the topics which the helpline and/or the counselling service can support with (this is not an exhaustive list):

Anxiety

Depression

Bereavement and loss

Workplace pressures

Bullying and harassment

Careers

Consumer rights

Childcare information

Debt

Disability and illness

Education

Elder care information

Family issues

Health and wellbeing

Life events

Relationships

 

 

 

Counselling service

The Pathway of support below outlines how telephone calls to the helpline are triaged to determine whether an employee needs ‘in the moment’ support or structured counselling.   

Everyone has very individual needs, so support can sometimes vary but in most cases, it will be along the lines of:

1.Telephone call will be answered by the Triage Team who will ask some questions and carry out an initial risk assessment to ensure they can get you the right type of support.

2. You may end up receiving 'in the moment’ support (ITMS) conducted by an ITMS counsellor who offers advice or information, or sends supportive information, research of local support agencies, or advice in relation to a concern, along with signposting to other Vivup resources, if appropriate, such as online CBT booklets.   

3. Or you may be booked in for your first structured counselling session; this is normally booked in with a counsellor and this first session will include a more detailed core 34 assessment. You will be sent a Statement of Understanding (which sets out details of the counselling provision, confidentiality and attendance) for signing along with the core assessment, both of which are completed before the first appointment and then your counsellor will go through it with you.  If further sessions are required, this may be with the same counsellor or a different one as Vivup will match you with a counsellor best matched to your presenting issue(s).

In the moment support is available 24/7 so this can also support night workers and employees with work/home commitments.   

Your Care Platform

 Your Care is an online health and wellbeing platform delivering effective, evidence-based interventions to help people live healthier lives.  Users have access to their own confidential, personalised dashboard which is specific to their needs.  Health-boosting goals can be set with small sustainable lifestyle changes through personalised gamification, including calls to action, suggestions and prompts in the user’s improvement journey. 

 You can access Your Care via the Vivup employee benefits platform.

 Your Care provides:

  • A suite of assessments to identify the risk of developing any of the five leading lifestyle-related diseased (cancer, diabetes, dementia, lung, cardiovascular), plus mental health and financial wellbeing scores
  • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) self-help workbooks (some examples include anxiety; health anxiety; depression and low mood; postnatal depression; stress; sleep problems; eating disorders; and anger management)
  • Connectivity with your health apps to automatically track goal progress
  • Blogs, videos, recipes, and more resources to inspire positive change
  • Domestic abuse support via the Brightsky app
  • Debt advice (via Angel Advance which provides 24/7 online debt advice)

Headrest

Headrest is a free nation telephone support service - see https://www.headrestuk.co.uk/ 

EducationSupport

Educationsupport provide six free one-to-one sessions by Zoom or telephone, which are completely confidential.

For those who need it, we can also offer access to counselling, delivered by qualified BACP accredited counsellors. Details are here.

Education Support have provided a webinar for support and advice on how you can manage the emotional challenges of education’s new reality. https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/resources/for-individuals/videos/teaching-in-2023-how-to-manage-the-emotional-impact/

This addresses:

  • the emotional impact of working in education and how to manage the emotional intensity
  • your new reality you’re faced with, and how to care for yourself while you are faced with the ever increasing and often complex needs of children and young people
  • how to manage expectations and setting boundaries to protect your own wellbeing.

Headteacher Coaching

The local authority recognises the pressures that headship brings and aims to ensure that a each headteacher has access to a range of well being support mechanisms.  One of these tools is the access to a peer support programme.  

A small group of headteachers have been trained in coaching to provide this peer support.

The peer support model is designed to support schools with the implementation of the DfE well being charter.  Full details can be found at https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1034032/DfE_Education_Workforce_Welbeing_Charter_Nov21.pdf

Headteachers will be able to request a cycle of peer support at any point. The local authority will oversee and monitor the programme as well as funding the training. Headteachers can select potential peer supporters from a list based on location and school size.

It is important to note that peer support is not mentoring. The peer support model is designed to allow headteachers access support when they are faced with particular issues. 

Full details can be found here or by the link at the top of this page. Headteachers seeking support should contact Steve Compton.