This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week (15-21 May) has a focus on anxiety and a toolkit of support to help manage any negative feelings.

The Mental Health Foundation, the charity behind MHAW, want to spark a national conversation to prompt people to share their experiences of anxiety and coping mechanisms.

As a not-for-profit tutoring organisation supporting hundreds of tutors, mostly students and graduates, to deliver high-quality tuition to thousands of young learners each year, we know how important it is to give our tutors the tools to enable themselves, and our tutees, to be their very best.

We have a suite of wellbeing resources on our tutor learning platform Thinqi, including exercises on self-compassion and managing worry, and tutorials on meditation and stress. There are also tools to help our tutors support their tutees if they are feeling anxious. All this comes alongside support from our dedicated Tutor Engagement Manager, Ellie Cross, a former tutor who has a wealth of useful resources to support our tutors in whatever way they need.

“I do understand the challenges that tutors can face, especially when there is pressure with your own studies and university exams,” she says.  “The most important thing is to ask for help.  I always knew I could call on my coordinator at Tutor Trust and that’s still the case.  As many of the team were also tutors themselves, they are in a great position to help.”

Along with Thinqi and one-to-one support from Ellie, we offer additional help to new tutors as they start their journey with us, including a peer mentoring programme to help them build their tutoring confidence, as well as specialist coaching sessions to help them create even greater impact in their tuition sessions.

For our Tutor Trust colleagues, we have a Wellbeing Team and trained Mental Responders to offer support, and this week we're sharing the things we do to keep mentally well, as part of the Mental Health Awareness Week's #ToHelpMyAnxiety. 

For more information on coping with anxiety, visit the MHAW website.