As World Mental Health Awareness Day comes to an end, Julian Stanley discusses why it is so important for teachers to talk about their emotional health.

You may have noticed that I talk a lot about awareness days in this column. I talk about them partly because these days can often lead into an interesting theme or discussion and partly because I want to help raise awareness of certain issues. Yet, if there is one awareness day that really should be talked about it is World Mental Health Day, which took place on Monday.

Why do we need a Mental Health Awareness Day you may wonder? Surely, there is so much talk and discussion about mental health problems, that no one cannot be aware of the impact that a mental health illness can have? Maybe not. Mental health, it appears, is something that we still do not talk about, particularly in education, but disturbing research shows that our mental health is the thing we, as teachers and former teachers, should definitely be talking about.

The immense pressures of teaching mean that common mental health problems are now widespread. In a survey of teachers who used our services last year, 87 per cent of respondents said they had experienced stress in the previous two years, two thirds anxiety and 42 per cent said they had experienced depression. Yet the impact of these stresses and anxieties is becoming increasingly more sinister.

Channel 4 reported recently that there had been an 80 per cent increase in teachers committing suicide. 63 primary and secondary teachers took their lives in 2009 compared to 35 in 2008. The increase means that suicide figures for teachers are now 30 to 40 per cent higher than the national average.

This summer also saw the inquest of young teacher Jenny Spain, who died in March after forming a suicide pact with a man she met online. In January, a coroner recorded a verdict of suicide after teacher Sarah Louise Giddy hanged herself before a school inspection. Headteacher Irene Hogg is believed to have committed suicide in March 2008 after a poor school inspection. I could go on.

Figures from users of Teacher Support Network services are also less than comforting. In the last year there has been a significant rise in callers to our Support Lines reporting that they wished to self harm. There were 41 cases from June 2010 to June 2011, compared to 11 cases the year before.

Moreover, teachers are telling us anecdotally of their suicidal thoughts. One teacher who responded to one of our e-newsletter surveys said "I was feeling totally overwhelmed by the workload and working 60+ hours a week just to hang on by my finger nails. I have actually contemplated suicide as a way out because the situation is making me miserable." Another respondent said: "Last year, I had to have three months off work having been diagnosed with severe depression following several years of intense stress. I actually wanted to end my life." Again, I could go on.

So what can be done to end this disturbing trend? In the first instance, it is vital that teachers are not put off by fear or stigma of a mental health problem. The more people that know about mental health problems and the more people that speak up and get help when they need it, the less of a problem it will become. Earlier this year we asked teachers to speak up about depression by changing their facebook profile:

• Update your facebook status or your twitter account to 'speaking up about depression.'
• Change your photo to a mouth and then ask your friends, family and facebook groups to do the same.
• Ask them to ask their friends and family to do similar and so on, so that we begin to see the scale of the problem and how it affects us all.

In the meantime, no teacher should ever feel like there is nowhere to turn. Teacher Support Network's professional coaches and counsellors can provide emotional support and advice to teachers in need. Call 0800 562 561 (England) or 08000 855 088 (Wales).