Best Practice

Staff wellbeing: Support for secondary trauma

Staff wellbeing Mental health Coronavirus
As schools return full-time, secondary trauma is a real and present danger for teachers and other staff. Sophie Howells from Education Support explains

 

Secondary trauma can happen when the act of supporting a traumatised or troubled young person becomes traumatic in itself.

This is something that is a constant threat for teachers and school staff (SecEd, 2018), and as schools return full-time after the Covid-19 lockdown it is perhaps even more of a danger.

If for example, a student or colleague has been through a traumatic event such as losing someone close to Covid-19, teachers may feel the impact of their distress. Or it may be that students have suffered other traumas during lockdown such as abuse or domestic violence – again supporting these young people could affect teachers severely.

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