Driving Instructor Mental Health & Wellbeing
Driving Instructor Mental Health & Wellbeing
We spend our working lives looking after learners. But who looks after the instructor?
Being a driving instructor is rewarding, but the job carries pressures that are easy to overlook: difficult lessons, near misses, test results, cancellations, financial pressure, long days and the emotional weight pupils sometimes bring into the car.
Driving Instructor Mental Health & Wellbeing looks beyond the badge to the person sitting in the passenger seat.
Written by ADI Simon J. Harrison, this practical and personal guide explores stress, boundaries, confidence, burnout, mindfulness, CBT-informed reflection, Thought Field Therapy (TFT) and simple ways to protect your wellbeing without losing the care that makes you a good instructor.
Look after the instructor too.
About the author
Simon J. Harrison is an Approved Driving Instructor, former teacher and founder of 4front Driving School. He completed a Qualification in Counselling Skills in 2022 and developed Mind & Therapy, bringing together his experience of working with people, counselling skills and complementary approaches to mental wellbeing.
You spend your working day supporting other people. When did you last check how you are doing?
Driving instruction can look simple from the outside. In reality, an ADI may spend the day teaching, observing, anticipating risk, managing a business, supporting anxious learners and making constant safety decisions — before taking the thoughts from a difficult lesson home at the end of the day.
Driving Instructor Mental Health & Wellbeing is a practical, personal guide to looking after the person behind the instructor badge.
Written by ADI and former teacher Simon J. Harrison, it explores the parts of the profession that often go unspoken, including:
• the hidden emotional and mental workload of being an ADI • recognising stress before it becomes overwhelming • difficult lessons, near misses and the thoughts we take home • test pressure and the feeling that a pupil's result reflects on you • supporting pupils without absorbing their problems • healthy professional and personal boundaries • cancellations, money worries and the pressures of self-employment • loneliness and the importance of professional support • mindfulness that can actually fit into an instructor's working day • CBT-informed approaches to unhelpful thoughts • Thought Field Therapy (TFT) as a complementary self-help approach • rebuilding confidence after a difficult experience • burnout, standards checks, conflict and difficult behaviour • rediscovering enjoyment in the job • creating a personal wellbeing plan and a more sustainable working life
This is not a clinical textbook and it does not attempt to turn driving instructors into therapists. It is written from experience — from years of teaching people, running a driving school and recognising that there is a human being in both front seats.
Simon completed a Qualification in Counselling Skills in 2022 and developed Mind & Therapy, exploring counselling skills alongside mindfulness, CBT-informed reflection and complementary approaches including TFT. Book_1_Driving_Instructor_Menta…
With practical exercises, reflection prompts, illustrated examples and a 30-day instructor wellbeing reset, this book is designed to be read from beginning to end or returned to whenever the job starts getting under your skin.
Because looking after your pupils matters — but so does looking after yourself.
