Over the past 12 months 8,668 cases were managed through Education Support Partnership’s free and confidential emotional support helpline, run by trained and accredited counsellors. This represents a 35% increase in the number of teachers seeking mental health support compared to the previous period. Despite this bleak picture, I want this figure to rise again next year. This is because the majority of those accessing support are doing so when they reach a crisis level, something that “can and should be avoided”. In my key note speech I will talk about the need for school leaders, governors, teachers and support staff to end the continuing stigma around seeking support at the earliest sign of poor wellbeing; and the benefits this can bring to individuals, organisations and pupils.