Teaching from a Place of Strength
Setting the scene - Ms Anderson seeks support for a struggling student
In a bustling year 8 classroom, Ms. Anderson teaches Alex, a student grappling with trauma and resorting to self-harm. Driven by empathy, Ms. Anderson becomes hyper-aware of Alex's struggles, shouldering an increasing personal responsibility for Alex’s wellbeing. She utilises the readily available psychoemotional strength sessions with her trusted facilitator, to unpack, reflect and gather perspective on the emotional responsibility she carries.
Over numerous sessions, she explores these questions: What is her responsibility? What is the school’s responsibility? What is the family’s responsibility? She is encouraged to seek further guidance from the school’s leadership team and affirms her final stance and appropriate boundaries. She uses the psychoemotional strength sessions to reduce the heaviness of the cognitive load associated with Alex’s wellbeing and to consider what is activating her hyper-vigilant personal response. She determines short term actionable goals, for example, revisiting trauma informed teaching practices.
The sessions provide a safe space for processing
Ms Anderson appreciates the facilitator’s honed and harnessed skills that provide a caring and confidential space, without judgement, hence creating room for Ms Anderson to share the continued psychological weight of not only Alex’s wellbeing, but the numerous other students’ personal circumstances, many of which impact their learning and her work as a professional. She is supported to advance self-awareness and self-reflection strategies and encouraged to practise these daily. Implementing meta-cognition strategies enlightens the choices she makes, as she cares for both herself and her students.
Strengthening Ms Anderson benefits her teaching
Ms Anderson feels seen, heard, respected and validated as a professional, supported by her facilitator; her facilitator has worked in schools all her professional life and understands the complexity of young people’s circumstances. This has a natural flow on effect into Ms Anderson’s teaching. The regular psychoemotional strength sessions ultimately assist her; she feels more confident in her professional approach, more satisfied with her personal wellbeing choices, more grateful for the leadership team’s acknowledgement of the impact of her work in a school on her psychological wellbeing. Most importantly, the sessions are a preventative tool and protected time, for warding off the cumulative effect of vicarious trauma, so she in turn, can sustainably do what she loves and does best; teach.