Pandemic taking a toll on school staff

Washougal School District rolls out new mental health policy to help teachers, staff cope with ‘compassion fatigue’

By Doug Flanagan
September 9, 2021 11:55 am
News, Schools, Washougal

Gause Elementary Teacher Brittni Nester helps student Madisyn Beaver with a project during a class session in November 2020. (Photo courtesy of Washougal School District)

Officials in the Washougal School District leaders say they realize the COVID-19 pandemic is taking a toll not just on students and families, but also on their own teachers and staff.

“There has been a lot of stress for everybody, me included,” Washougal schools superintendent Mary Templeton said during the Washougal School Board’s Aug. 24 meeting. “Our teachers and staff and adults in our system have been under a tremendous amount of strain and stress and pressure in the last year and a half. This has not been an easy task.”

The district hopes to address those concerns through its new workforce secondary traumatic stress policy, which the board adopted during the Aug. 24 meeting.

The policy defines secondary traumatic stress, also known as compassion fatigue, as a “natural but disruptive set of symptoms that may result when one person learns firsthand of the traumatic experiences of another.”

Symptoms of secondary traumatic stress may include feelings of isolation, anxiety, dissociation, physical ailments and sleep disturbances, according to the policy, which also states that those affected by secondary traumatic stress may experience changes in memory and perception, alterations in their sense of self-efficacy, a depletion of personal resources, and disruption in their perceptions of safety, trust, and independence.

“I think the term ‘compassion fatigue’ reflects what teachers do on an everyday basis that goes far beyond reading, writ24 meeting. “That’s a lot of tension and stress that they help to absorb and deflect for those kids. I really appreciate them.”

Board member Angela Hancock said that she’s “so happy” that the district is addressing the mental wellness of its adults.

“A lot of people know that kids go through stress, and we are always focusing on the kids, and we are not focusing on the adults that are teaching the kids,” she said. “The daily things that (teachers) see and hear take an emotional toll on (them).”

‘To support students, we need to be healthy and be our best selves’

“This puts policy and procedure in place for something we believe, which is that in order for us to support our students, we need to be healthy and be our best selves,” the school district’s assistant superintendent, Aaron Hansen, said. “In order to be your best self, you need to be healthy. This commitment to staff wellness just reinforces (our belief) that our staff plays such a vital role in supporting our students.”

The district’s staff wellness committee will expand its work to incorporate mental health by sharing stress management resources available through Washington’s Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Educational Service District 112, and the Washington State Health Care Authority’s School Employees’ Benefits Board; sharing links to secondary traumatic stress self-assessment tools; and reporting to the school board at least once per year with a summary of its activities.

“Individuals are coping with what they’re dealing with, and they’re doing it in their own way,” said Hansen, who is leading the committee with Jerolyn Friesen, a support coach for the district.

Hansen said the district will try to assess what individual staff members need and find resources for “staff when they are experiencing trauma, whether it’s secondary trauma as the result of supporting their students or their own trauma.

The district is partnering with the Health Care Authority and Kaiser Permanente, which will provide resources for individuals, Hansen added.

“But maybe that doesn’t work for some individuals, so (we want to find) other options. We really want to see what’s available to help us provide support to our staff,” he said.

The wellness committee sent surveys to teachers and staff members twice during the 2020-21 school year to inquire about their mental health.

Hansen said the surveys revealed a “wide range of responses,” but one of the main themes that emerged was that “there’s a reliance on their colleagues, and that their support is very helpful.”

“I think that’s what’s unique about being in Washougal,” Friesen said. “Because Washougal is such a tight-knit community … this community is not going to let a person who doesn’t speak up flounder. They’re going to say, ‘Hey, I see this. How can we help?’ That’s unique to Washougal, both within the school system and in the community at large.”

The policy states that when secondary traumatic stress is left unaddressed, “it may lead to staff turnover, burnout, adult chronic absenteeism and health issues that negatively impact everyone in the school community.”

“That’s where the one-on-one conversations with an administrator or person in the building that you trust come in,” Friesen said. “As a district, we can put scaffolds in place or support our buildings, but really the heart of this comes when you can sit down with a person, either via Zoom or face-to-face, and say, ‘Hey, how are you doing? How can I help you? What do you need?’ Even if that’s a (school) thing or a personal thing or a mixture of both, we try to assess what we have the capacity to do, and (figure out) how we can help them find the right resource or give them the space to figure it out.”

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