On Being A Teacher With A Mental Health Condition - Rhianna Levi

Often, mental health conditions are stigmatised as being a disadvantage. On the contrary, I believe that to be incorrect. Like any life experience, we become more well-rounded and educated individuals, with opportunities to become fantastic in the goals that we choose to work towards.

Being an educator became one of my goals from an early age. Before I even was a trainee teacher, now newly qualified, I recognised that being a teacher with a mental health condition was almost discouraged due to the nature of the job. Yes, it is undeniable that teachers are under a great deal of stress, which has continued to rise over the past eighteen months. Albeit, teaching is one of the most rewarding opportunities to engage with and master.

Teaching sets my heart alight with joyful passion. As a teacher in her early twenties, I have had lived experience of mental health conditions since childhood. Yet throughout the pandemic, I trained as an English teacher with enhancement in Post-16 education and PSHE and Citizenship. Furthermore, I qualified in June 2021 as a high achieving teacher.

To me, an inspiring and fulfilling education is not focused on a single sighted perspective which only considers academia. Human life and experience is globally essential and students need to receive the tools to assist them in finding and savouring their own identities. Let’s face it, navigating the world is complex in itself, even more so when you are yet to find yourself!

Teachers need to feel accepted in expressing their own glorious identities in the classroom, which play a key part of being a great educator. Yes, being knowledgeable in your subject is a priority, but so is pastoral education and everything in between.

As a teacher with a mental health condition, my experiences have made me emotionally intelligent, passionate, approachable and a good teacher not only in my subject, but as a mentor for my students.

We were placed on this beautiful rock in the middle of a magnificent solar system for a reason. To live our lives in all its splendour, overcoming times of heartbreak and catastrophe, and to be a vibrant sunbeam who wants happiness and love for not ourselves, but those around us. Be that sunbeam, do not allow spiteful pieces of darkness to prevent you from achieving those delicious aspirations that you continue to ponder over.

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Rhianna Levi (She/Her) is a 22 year old BA Hons English Literature graduate, English teacher and MA student. Outside her career in education and academia, Rhianna is passionate about mental health advocacy, the Humanities and the Arts. Additionally, Rhianna has a strong social media following, which she uses to spread awareness of prominent social issues, education, and kindness. Rhianna lives in Worcester, England.