In her 4th year as a special education teacher, Alejandra feels confident in her ability to design instruction and manage classroom behaviors, yet the demands seem never-ending. She is under a lot of pressure with additional duties assigned by administration and endless paperwork. Over the last year, she has felt too exhausted to keep up her gym routine, has frequent headaches, and is irritable with colleagues in meetings.
Brandon is known for creating a strong sense of classroom community through relationship building and listening to his students. Throughout years of teaching, he has helped several students cope with difficult home lives, such as food insecurity, abuse, and neglect. Sometimes he wonders if his efforts in the classroom even matter. He is restless at night, leaving him feeling fatigued. He has little energy to play with his own young children and finds himself raising his voice when they complain about anything.
For the last two weeks, a student in Charlie's class has been withdrawn, but suddenly acted out when another student accidentally bumped into her. Concerned about this change in behavior, Charlie checked in with the student, who disclosed a traumatizing event. Ever since she learned about this, Charlie has not been able to sleep more than a couple hours at night and doesn't want to engage with her family and friends.
Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and Secondary Traumatic Stress
These three hypothetical scenarios illustrate common—but often undiscussed—situations we have seen teachers face as they go about their daily work. Each is indicative of problems caused by burnout, stress, and compassion fatigue. Before we can tackle them, we first must understand their roots.
The first step in combating the negative effects of stressful teaching is awareness of the differences between compassion fatigue, burnout (very common), and secondary traumatic stress (less common and more serious). Burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary traumatic stress are closely intertwined constructs that encompass the negative effects associated with helping professions (Stamm, 2010). Burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by long-term involvement in emotionally demanding situations, illustrated by Alejandra's experience. Compassion fatigue is the "cost of caring" for others, or stress resulting from aiding or desiring to aid individuals who have experienced traumatic events (Figley, 1995). Brandon's case demonstrates how this stress can affect life outside of work. Secondary traumatic stress occurs from indirect exposure to another person's traumatic experiences. Teachers might acquire symptoms much like those of the student they are trying to help and may even arise quickly from a specific encounter, such as in Charlie's case (Thomas & Wilson, 2004). Educating students requires teachers to open their hearts and minds, but this process of empathy is what makes teachers especially vulnerable to trauma and stress.
Steps to Maintain Wellness
Fortunately, there are preventive strategies that center on wellness and self-care.
1. Understand the wellness domains. The National Wellness Institute names six interdependent wellness domains: occupational, physical (including sleep, eating well, and physical activity), social, intellectual, spiritual (or transcendent), and emotional. Self-care requires balance in each of these domains.
2. Keep self-care simple. Teachers are busy people. Attempting to address the six wellness domains should not add more stress. Think of self-care—any activity to deliberately take care of our wellness—as a form of hygiene, similar to washing hands or brushing teeth. We cannot wait until that one weekend to squeeze in a spa day but must develop daily self-care routines. To set habits, choose one wellness domain and develop a SMART goal: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely.
The following self-care strategies should be easy to incorporate into life at work and at home:
- Improve the quality or quantity of your sleep. The science is clear about the relationship between a good night's sleep and wellness, mood, and productivity. Stop using electronic devices for at least one hour before bed, create a to-do list to prioritize for the next day, or incorporate calming strategies into your bedtime routine, such a meditating for a few minutes several times a week.
- Eat better. Whether it is sitting at your desk during lunch or not having time to eat at all, meals can often be an afterthought. Simple strategies include actually eating at regular intervals, keeping healthy snacks in your classroom or bag, or scheduling lunch with coworkers who make you laugh.
- Get physical. If you are struggling to find time for physical activity, play with your students during recess or PE, embed brain breaks into your instruction with calisthenics or silly dances, or take your PLC meeting for a 15-minute walk.
- Spend time socially and spiritually. Time with family and friends may take last priority when the to-do list is long. Social self-care includes being truly present in moments of in-person quality time or phone/video chats with loved ones who support you. Fuel spirituality by taking time to yourself, enjoying nature, or practicing gratitude, prayer, reflection, mindfulness, or meditation.
- Practice good emotional hygiene. Teachers can practice identifying stressors and solutions, giving self-praise and affirmations, and setting boundaries, like not working when you get home. Most importantly, turn to a licensed mental health professional before stress feels unmanageable—especially if you begin to feel a change in your behavior, energy, excitement for work, or when changes affect your life outside of work. Learn about the resources available through your employer, such as mental health insurance benefits.
3. Get support from administrators. Administrators may consider changing policies to prioritize mental health and wellness for employees.
- Set aside wellness time during meetings. Administrators can designate a few minutes in meetings to discuss self-care strategies, check in with school personnel, and engage them in relaxation techniques, such as deep breathing or a stretching activity.
- Provide training and support. Teachers are often the first person to whom students disclose traumatic experiences. The retelling of the story can impact those listening. By providing teachers with additional training and support around compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress, they can better identify how warning signs manifest in their behavior and know when to seek professional help. Support should reflect respect for educators' social-emotional, professional, spiritual, and physical well-being.
By developing awareness, practicing simple self-care strategies, and knowing when and where to get help, teachers can work collaboratively with administrators and other school professionals to combat stress, create a supportive school climate, and sustain long and fulfilling careers.
