A “PANDEMIC” of mental illness worsened by stress is afflicting teachers and pushing them to the brink, union members warned over the weekend.

Delegates at NASUWT’s annual conference unanimously supported a motion on teachers’ mental health and wellbeing, expressing concern and alarm at “the increased incidence of depression, anxiety and teacher suicide.”

Claire Taylor from Durham told delegates that she had taken an overdose at work almost five years ago.

She said: “There is a pandemic of mental health illness within teaching. I’m a lucky one. Today I stand four years, eight months and 19 days since I took an overdose at my desk at work.

“I got help, I got the right medication, the correct dosage and a year of [cognitive behavioural therapy] … but we don’t have that across the country.

“We can’t provide that as a union – we need the NHS.”

She called for teachers to be able to “join up our thinking” with the NHS and with the Department for Education.

“We can’t tackle this as a union on our own,” Ms Taylor added.

Russ Walters from NASUWT’s executive said: “The mental health and wellbeing of teachers is being put at risk by many thoughtless, irresponsible, egotistical and, in some cases, downright bullying employers on a daily basis.

He referred to a recent NASUWT survey, which he said “came up with a whole host of disturbing statistics”, including the fact that “three-fifths of teachers report their wellbeing is not considered important by [their] school”.

One in 10 teachers stated in the survey that they had started using anti-depressants in the last 12 months.

Mr Walters asked: “If one in 10 are reporting that, how many more are also taking depressants to cope with the everyday business of work?”

Shockingly, Mr Walters said that between 2011 and 2015 there were 139 suicides among teaching and educational professionals.

Gwerfyl White, a teacher from Surrey, told conference of a colleague who had recently died aged just 38 and demanded that “the existing culture prevalent in our schools must change.”

She said: “Healthy teachers are healthy learners.

“Teachers, because we care, we are our own worst enemies. We could say no, but we don’t. We care.

“We put our children in our classrooms, their learning, before our own health. We need to change the culture in our schools.”