​by Cherie McNaulty Instructor/TCC

We are in a profession that concentrates on helping others.  We are teachers, instructors, and facilitators that come in direct contact with students in custody and in community settings.  We understand that we can be witnesses to information that is sad and distressing throughout our day and week.  This comes with the profession. 

Let me take you to a fantasy land for a minute:  We are in school and have been appreciated and praised by many for our teaching and helping skills.  We are pretty good in school, many A+ students, and so we believe we can be teachers.  Or maybe we have great teacher and/or mentor that inspires us to become a teacher.  We enter into this career believing one,  I can make a difference, and two, I will be a super hero and change lives! (You know you have a cape somewhere).  Well, sooner than later we understand that teaching is work.  Yes, it’s grading papers, entering grades, doing reports (WPRs!), and understanding transcripts, teaching, and administering assessments, etc., etc., etc.

​But we often miss, or are not taught in our teaching program, that teaching can be heart wrenching. I am not here to burst your bubble or dissolve those great intentions and hope for your students.  By all means keep those!  But what I would like to give you is more information. Teaching can be stressful and we need to be careful.  This is especially true with the students we work with, but this information is for all teachers of any age.  Life happens.  It shows up in some very challenging ways and it can derail us if we are not prepared.

​I am talking about compassion fatigue and vicarious or secondary trauma.

I want to be very clear that I am not talking about burnout.  Burnout happens in many person’s live and it has different symptoms: tiredness that is remedied through a break or sleep, disinterest in usual activities that returns in a week or two, lack of appetite that returns, physical lethargy and mental lethargy and or confusion that can be addressed with schedule changes or diet changes. These are important to look out for and by no means am I saying you shouldn’t pay attention to these, but usually one main difference is that with burnout the symptoms will go away with increased self-care and rest or a break.  Compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, and secondary trauma are very different. 
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In this day and age we are already affected by many traumatic happenings in our world.  One only needs to turn on the radio or TV or look at their social media to be swamped with horrific events. In our line of teaching and facilitating we are being exposed to multiple stories of trauma in the contact we have with our students.  The stories of abuse, or neglect or loss from our students that they share with us, or is shared in a class setting, or even in their responses in their work they write is one way we are exposed.  As teachers there is a relationship that exists and a true atmosphere of safety and caring will be present in a successful teacher’s classroom.

These are the more obvious ways we are exposed, but the less obvious ways can put teachers and facilitators at more of a risk than one might think.  When we interact with someone who has experienced a traumatic event or is experiencing a traumatic event (i.e. homelessness, racism, incarceration, poverty, challenged parenthood, loss, domestic violence, immigration threat, sexual harassment, etc.).  We are going to be affected by how they interact and speak with us.  Furthermore, if we ourselves have experienced trauma we can be triggered and emotionally we are being transformed without even knowing what is happening. 

The signs?
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1. We have increased irritability and impatience
2. Difficulty concentrating and recalling memory related items
3. Intense feelings over day to day events
4. Intrusive thoughts-we can't stop thinking about the students
5. Lack of pleasure in family and other activities
6. Blaming
7. Dreams about the student’s or participant’s traumas
8. A feeling of helplessness over the traumas, but also a growing sense of helplessness about hope for the future.

​Remember that fantasy story about the teacher all excited and happy and fitted with a cape?  Well, fast forward to now - they are increasingly sad and irritable and without hope.  They isolate themselves and stop participating in their normal life activities. They are possibly told by older educators who have no clue “to suck it up” or “this is what you signed up for”. They push through even though they are fatigued and sad often.  They think they are doing the right thing by plowing through another year.  Well, they are not.  If you recognize any of these signs please seek help.  

​You start to notice some of these signs, but you say to yourself, “It’s just that I am tired and I care more than most.  It will be ok. I’ll rest on the weekend”.  But the weekend comes and you are irritable. You can’t even enjoy your time at home with family and you believe you are the only one that can help your students.  You don’t sleep well, exercise, or eat well and then Monday comes.  You get up, get dressed, and go to school. Let’s say you are an in custody teacher. You get to the room and then you find out one of your students was hurt over the weekend in a fight and put into Ad Seg.  You start to cry and are inconsolable.  True story.  But it might not be so radical.  You might break a pencil and break down.  You are already on the edge and you are not even noticing it.  Like the story of the frog in the water that was heated a little bit each day and never noticed it, because it adapted slowly and without even noticing it,  the frog was finally cooked to death. 

Don’t be the frog.  Pay attention and be in tune with your body and emotions.  Make it a habit to check in with yourself each day.  Make sure you are OK and process your feelings around stories you hear and events that take place.  Practice self-care religiously.  Everyday do something for you unrelated to teaching and your students. Talk to someone.  Keep a journal.  Work on your own trauma and issues.  Know your triggers.

I want to add a section for the administration and/or front desk personnel.  Don’t think because you are not in the classroom all the time you are immune.  You interact with students also.  You have to read the enrollment forms, you know their history, and have to ask questions.  You are their first point of contact sometimes and they might have educational trauma. You can be affected by this.  You can also be affected by the stories you hear from co-workers.

Remember you have to be whole and well to help others.
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Review the resource sheet I have included below to see if they resonate and as always write a self-care program and practice it! Be well.

by Darcy Young

​“Care providers are unique people. We have the gift of being able to connect with others in ways that are difficult to explain and even more difficult for others to understand. Our unique ability to join with our clients that allows us a near first-hand experience of their inner worlds is perhaps out greatest gift; it is also our greatest challenge.”- Karl LaRowe, The Caregiving Personality

Compassion Stress: a natural outcome of knowing about trauma experienced by a client, friend or family member.

Traumatic Stress: extreme emotionally or absence of emotions, fearful, jumpy, exaggerated startle response, and flashbacks.
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Vicarious Traumatization: Overly involved with or avoidance of victim/survivor, hyper vigilance and fear for one’s own safety, and intrusive thoughts and images or nightmares from victim’s stories.

Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) …”the natural consequent behaviors and emotions results from knowing about a traumatizing event experienced by another…the stress resulting from helping or wanting to help a traumatized or suffering person.” (Charles Figley, 1995).

Burnout:  “a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by long-term involvement in emotionally demanding situation.” Symptoms include depression, cynicism, boredom, loss of compassion, and discouragement (Pines and Aronson, 1988.)
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Compassion Fatigue- “A state of exhaustion and dysfunction biologically, psychologically, and emotionally, as a result of prolonged exposure to compassion stress” (Charles Figley, 1995).

Compassion fatigue is the exhaustion we feel from bearing witness to the suffering of another whom we care for (teach). Trauma does not need to be present. This term is more commonly used in the health care field, originally started in hospitals with nurses.  As teachers when interacting with our students, often they share their stories, many of which include pain and trauma. How often do you hold that space for them and are impacted by their words? We are teachers and other caregivers bear witness to human suffering due to pain or illness, but not necessarily trauma.

According to the Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project, the following are signs or symptoms for compassion fatigue:

• Excessive blaming
• Bottled up emotions
• Isolation from others
• Receives unusual amount of complaints from others
• Voices excessive complaints about administrative functions
• Substance abuse used to mask feelings
• Compulsive behaviors such as overspending, overeating, gambling, sexual addictions
• Poor self-care (i.e., hygiene, appearance)
• Legal problems, indebtedness
• Reoccurrence of nightmares and flashbacks to traumatic event
• Chronic physical ailments such as gastrointestinal problems and recurrent colds
• Apathy, sad, no longer finds activities pleasurable
• Difficulty concentrating
• Mentally and physically tired
• Preoccupied
• In denial about problems

​Once you realize that you are a candidate for compassion fatigue, or are already suffering its effects, exploring this new awareness can lead to insights concerning past traumas, pain, and defeating behaviors. Too often we ignore these signs, and can have physical or emotional strains, causes us to no longer function in a healthy manner. The good news is there are many options on recovering from compassion fatigue. Denial is the first hurdle to cross. With insight, support and self-care, you can begin to heal.
 
The Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project has various links for resources, articles, and compassion fatigue quizzes.  There website is easy to navigate and can be found at http://www.compassionfatigue.org.

by Nan Foster