C8g y paneles C clon tipo C8 Los carriles con signo positivo corresponden a los cultivos

The overarching theme, A Myriad of Emotion, encapsulated finding that the lead pastoral staff experienced a range of emotions in relation to identifying and supporting pupil mental health needs, which were managed in a variety of ways.

5.3.1 Shock.

Three of the four pastoral leads expressed feelings of shock pertaining to the age of onset of pupil mental health needs and pupils’ help seeking behaviour. For two of the pastoral leads, the experience of shock emerged from pupils actively seeking help from them by seeking them out within the context of school. It appears that the pastoral leads experiences of identifying pupil mental health are experienced as being sought out within the school context. When considering the existing literature, these findings may relate to both Rothi et al. (2008) and Spratt et al. (2006), who found school staff were concerned that internalised mental health needs may be overlooked.

5.3.2 Frustration and anger.

Although there was convergence and divergence across the experiences of the pastoral leads in relation to the range of emotions evoked, feelings of “anger and frustration” were present in all four of the pastoral leads’ accounts of liaising with external agencies to support pupil mental health needs. This is reflected in the existing literature with Connelly et al. (2008) revealing teachers were frustrated with “the system” around the pupils. This study revealed that the pastoral leads considered the experience of having a lack of communication from external services and long waiting lists frustrating. Furthermore, a discrepancy between perceptions of the pastoral leads and the perceptions of CAMHS staff regarding the severity of the presenting pupil’s mental health needs emerged as a further source of frustration.

Within this study, feelings of frustration appear to be related to those of isolation within the system and highlighted that identifying and supporting pupil mental health needs is often experienced as an isolating endeavour. As expressed by Anne, “I’m not sure pastorally, where the support is, for the pastoral team” (Anne, lines 268 – 270). It appears that the pastoral leads experience a sense that they are left alone to make sense of, and support pupil mental health needs.

5.3.3 Worry and rumination.

Three of the pastoral leads experienced worry in relation to pupil mental health needs. For the pastoral leads in this study, it appeared the worry was related to a concern that their efforts to support pupils with mental health needs were not “good enough” or worse, that they may even be detrimental to the pupils. As conveyed by Katie, “Erm, I suppose it’s a bit worried that you’re gonna say the wrong thing and

make her situation worse” (Katie, lines 730-733). This study’s findings appear to reflect those of Knightsmith et al. (2014), who found school staff were uncomfortable talking about eating disorders and perceived talking about them may increase

prevalence. Though focused on secondary school teachers, Bostock et al. (2011) highlighted the worries of school staff and found they “were more afraid of being held responsible or accountable if they are wrong” (p. 109) regarding a perceived pupil mental health need. It may be interpreted that experiencing a worry about getting things wrong implies that there is a right way to engage with pupil mental health. This appears to allude to the experience of precarious interactions with pupils whereby the individual wants to offer support to the pupil however feels that doing so may be detrimental to both parties.

For some, the worries of the school day pertaining to pupil mental health may permeate the boundaries between home and school meaning the pastoral leads “...go home...thinking constantly of it.” (Anne, lines 1657-1658). In this study, Anne made several references to a lack of supervision and appeared to struggle to process and articulate the emotions felt during her work with vulnerable pupils. This reflects Burton and Goodman’s (2011) findings that working closely with vulnerable pupils “could be extremely stressful and could impact upon staff members’ own well-being” (p. 140). There was strong belief amongst staff that if they were supporting the same severity of issues in a setting outside education, they would receive more formal support (Burton & Goodman, 2011).

5.3.4 Managing the emotional experience.

A sense that the emotive aspect of the pastoral lead role is inherent appeared to emerge from the data. For three of the four pastoral leads, reflecting upon the

emotions evoked and trying to change their perspectives of the varied situations they encountered appeared to facilitate their ability to manage. Nonetheless, the

overarching theme highlights the degree to which identifying and supporting pupil mental health needs evokes challenging emotions within the pastoral leads. This is reflected in the existing literature. Both Kidger et al. (2010) and Corcoran and Finney (2015) found the stress that school staff were under to assess, complete paperwork and remain enthusiastic when supporting challenging pupils, was affecting the well- being of school staff as well as pupils.

5.3.5 A myriad of emotion and psychological theory.

As conveyed by Smith et al. (2009) “there will be a large number of literatures, and then texts within each literature, that you could connect your work to. You need to select some of that which is particularly resonant” (p. 113). When reflecting upon the overarching theme, A Myriad of Emotion, a paper cited in the Chapter 1,

pertaining to pastoral staff’s experiences of their own well-being gathered particular resonance. Partridge (2012) explored pastoral staff’s experiences of their own emotional well-being in a secondary school and explained them through the application of the psychodynamic concept containment, suggesting pastoral staff provide “containment in the system” (p. 125). The concept of containment (Bion, 1962) refers to a person’s anxiety being held by another, so that they may be supported to process the emotional experience. Partridge (2012) also introduced emotional labour theory (Hochschild, 1983) which posits that presenting an emotional

front which is incongruent to the internal emotions experienced can cause relational stress. For the pastoral leads in this study, it appeared that in the process of

identifying and supporting pupil mental health needs, the interactions required a high level of emotional labour. For example, “...when you’ve got a sixteen year old girl saying to you, “The voices, the voices” and punching […] her own head and cutting. [...] You think, well, I can’t not worry about it. [...] Because that’s what’s happened. [...] I was extremely (pause) angry. [...] Frustrated.” (James, lines 568-606). James describes a situation in which he is simultaneously trying to support a pupil

presenting with mental health needs, whilst internally experiencing a myriad of emotion. This raises the question, where is the “containment” for the “container” in the system?