When Mental Health Is a Talking Point but Not a Priority
- Nadia Renata
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
When the news broke that teachers would no longer have free access to the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) — a counselling and mental health support service they previously relied on and would now have to pay roughly $450 per session out of pocket, my first reaction wasn’t surprise.
It was anger.
Because this decision doesn’t exist in a vacuum. It lands in a country where within the last few years, mental health has been publicly championed, discussed and promoted as important and then quietly deprioritised when it became inconvenient or costly.
As a former secondary school teacher, I understand exactly why access to EAP matters. I understand the pressure teachers carry, not just academically but emotionally, psychologically and socially.
Teaching is not a job you leave at the gate when the bell rings. It follows you home. It lives in your nervous system. It seeps into your sleep.
To remove emotional support from people working under those conditions is not neutral. It is a statement.
Let’s Be Honest About What Teaching Requires
Teachers are expected to be:
Educators
Behaviour managers
Emotional buffers
De facto counsellors
Administrators
Role models
Crisis responders
Often all in the same day.
They manage classrooms filled with children carrying trauma, instability, hunger and fear, while navigating overcrowded curricula, limited resources and increasing public scrutiny.
Under these conditions, mental and emotional support is not a “nice-to-have.”
Treating it as optional is not just misguided. It’s irresponsible.
This Is the Message Being Sent
When a government speaks publicly about the importance of mental health but simultaneously removes access to professional psychological support for its own employees, it sends a dangerous and contradictory message:
That mental health matters — until it costs money.
That wellness is important — until it affects the budget.
That public servants should cope — quietly.
Policy decisions like this don’t just affect balance sheets. They shape how people experience their work, their stress and their sense of worth.
And when teachers suffer, students do too. Families feel it. Communities absorb it.
Why the Voice That Spoke Up Matters
It is not insignificant that this issue was brought to public attention by a male teacher, someone who openly stated that he had used the EAP before and now could not access it.
In a culture where men are often discouraged from acknowledging emotional strain, his voice matters!!! Not because men suffer more but because they are often taught to suffer silently.
Men, particularly in teaching roles, are expected to be resilient, patient and composed. Many struggle to seek help until pressures become unmanageable.
When a man in education says, publicly, that he needs mental health support, that should be met with care and seriousness — not policy withdrawal.
What we’re seeing reinforces an old, harmful narrative:
Manage. Endure. Don’t ask too much.
This Isn’t About Politics — It’s About Values
This is not about party lines or political point-scoring. It’s about alignment between what is said publicly and what is done in practice.
Over the last few years, mental health has been positioned as a national concern. We have been encouraged to talk about it more openly, to take it seriously, to seek help and to prioritise emotional well-being. That messaging matters, especially in a society where mental health has long been minimised or misunderstood.
But messaging without structural support is hollow.
You cannot promote mental health awareness while dismantling mental health support. You cannot tell people to prioritise well-being while quietly removing access to the very services that make that possible.
When support is withdrawn at the institutional level, the responsibility is pushed back onto individuals — many of whom are already stretched thin, emotionally and financially.
That contradiction sends a clear message:
Mental health matters in theory, but not enough to protect it in practice.
This doesn’t just undermine trust. It erodes credibility. It teaches people that support is conditional, that care is negotiable and that resilience is expected even when systems fail. Over time, it discourages people from speaking up at all, because the risk of being unsupported feels greater than the relief of being honest.
Values are revealed not by statements, but by decisions.
And decisions like this reveal where mental and emotional well-being truly sit on the list of priorities.
The Real Cost of Losing EAP
Counselling is not a luxury for many educators — it is a mental health lifeline.
Teachers carry responsibilities far beyond lesson delivery: managing classroom behaviour, supporting students’ emotional needs, handling administrative workload and navigating complex parent interactions. Many carry these burdens home, where personal stress and family responsibilities converge.
For teachers already living with low pay relative to the intensity of their role, having to pay hundreds of dollars per session introduces a financial and emotional burden. Many — men and women alike — will now forgo professional support simply because it is no longer funded.
That choice has consequences.
Teachers carry society’s future in their hands. When their emotional support is removed, everyone pays a cost — students, families and communities.
And when men in education speak up about needing support, we should listen! Not just to the policy implications, but to the cultural narratives that make asking for help one of THE hardest things to do.
Mental health cannot remain a talking point.
It has to be a priority — even when it’s uncomfortable, even when it costs money, even when it requires follow-through.
Anything less is just rhetoric.
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