CPTSD in the Workplace: Teacher Edition

As a trauma recovery career coach, I get a lot of correspondence from teachers who struggle with doing the job they love while trying to manage the legacy effects of trauma. It is a definite challenge. So today, I want to outline why this is such a challenge and what you can do about it as a teacher.

A Brief Message to Teachers

To all my teacher friends out there, I want you to hear a couple of things from me as a means of encouragement.

You are doing important work. Teaching is much more than creating curriculum and test results. It is about teaching people how to learn. When students learn how to learn, we empower them to succeed in life, solve complex problems, and improve the world.

You may be the only connection your students get. Some students do not have a supportive family or anyone that they can really connect with. You may be the only one who even notices them.

You have the opportunity to change/save lives. My life was saved as a teenager going through sexual abuse because of two teachers who genuinely cared about me. They are the ones I went to when I couldn’t take it anymore. As a result, teachers will always have a special place in my heart.

The Challenge

Teachers, in general, face many challenges in our educational institutions and society today, but for a teacher with a trauma history, these challenges trigger deeper emotional wounds. To manage triggers, we must first be aware of them. Let’s explore some common triggers for teachers.

Unsafe environment. The environment can feel very unsafe depending on where and who you teach. This does not only apply to inner-city schools or working with an adolescent population.

You might be surprised by how many college/university professors do not feel safe in Academia because of comparison and toxic work environments. The pressure to publish or obtain research grants for the school can be tremendous.

We constantly see violence showing up in our schools on the news because of the society/culture we live in today. The students don’t just leave that at the door when they walk into school…they bring it with them…and it’s not only the students doing it. Other teachers bring attitudes and agendas to the workplace that can make it feel unsafe.

These scenarios can trigger feelings of being unsafe from their own trauma, which compounds and intensifies the emotion. Teachers will then dread going to work, feel stressed out or exhausted when they come home from work, and lose their sense of purpose for becoming a teacher in the first place.

Lack of support. Often, teachers are not well-supported by their leadership. They are thrown into a chaotic environment without a lifeline and told to do the best they can with what they have. They don’t get the materials or supplies they need to do their jobs and are forced to be creative or find other ways of closing the gap for their students.

Some teachers will even dip into their pockets to provide for their students when they are not making much money either. Can you imagine someone in business being hired to do an important job but not given the equipment to do it? That wouldn’t make sense, right? And yet, that is what teachers often experience.

Another way teachers lack support is the administration not “having their back” when it comes to dealing with challenging students and parents. There seems to be this mentality to appease students and parents in order to “keep the peace” rather than holding them to the standards that have been set.

Not feeling supported by those in authority can absolutely trigger wounds from childhood neglect in some teachers, where their parents did not protect and support them. Again, this intensifies the emotion.

Traumatized students. Teachers who’ve experienced and survived childhood trauma can spot a traumatized student from a mile away. They can easily pick up on a student’s behavior, attitudes, and fluctuating emotions. Often, this is part of their motivation to become a teacher. Either they had a teacher who saw them and saved their lives, as in my case, or they didn’t get noticed as a troubled child and want to make sure that never happens to another kid.

When students enter the classroom triggered by trauma that is happening at home, it can instantly trigger the memory for that teacher of being in that same situation as a kid. Students with severe attachment wounds vacillate between being clingy to being avoidant, which will also trigger the teacher’s attachment wounds. Triggered people trigger people…even if they are kids.

The Solution

I wish I could just wave a magic wand and remove all of the challenges that I mentioned above, but that is not going to happen. However, that does not mean that teachers need to leave their calling because nothing will ever change. I want to equip you with the tools you need to be successful.

Create awareness of your triggers. If you don’t know what is triggering you, as a teacher, you won’t be able to create a solution for yourself. I created a FREE Trigger Tracker template to help you create an awareness of the people, places, things, and situations that are triggering you in your workplace.

Take some time to write down what is triggering you so you can create a plan to manage your triggers. You CAN manage your triggers. You don’t have to leave your job because you experience triggers since you take those triggers with you wherever you go.

Work on narrowing down whether the trigger is a situation, a person, an environment, etc. If the trigger is related to a person, determine what about that person is triggering to you. Do they remind you of someone from your past, or do they remind you of yourself when you were younger? Try to get as detailed as possible in your description.

Create some personal safety. Once you have determined what/who is triggering you, the next step is to create a sense of personal safety. Many times when we feel unsafe, it is linked to some experience in our past that is stored in our threat database, but we are not actually being threatened. In times like these, it is important to keep yourself in the present by communicating to the young, frightened part of you that you are safe now. That intense response is an emotional memory from the past and not related to the present.

Another thing you can do to stay present is to put reminders of the present around your classroom, whether it is a sign, a figure, a plant, or even some essential oils or strong scent. I keep sticky notes on my monitors in my office even though I am not a full-time teacher. What are the things that bring you comfort and help you to feel safe?

However, there are times when the threat is real. These are the times when we need to remind ourselves that we are adults now and that we have more options for handling distressing situations than we did as a child. Reminding ourselves that we are adults is a really important step in this process. If we have an emotional flashback, we may experience a younger version of ourselves (emotionally) and lose the ability to act rationally. Keeping our frontal cortex online is required for logical decision-making processes.

Create a safe container for you and your students. This is done by defining and enforcing boundaries in the classroom. Boundaries communicate what is OK and not OK in your classroom and what will happen if a boundary is violated. Setting and communicating boundaries is not easy and takes some practice. Students will naturally push on the boundaries you have set to see if they are going to hold up or not, especially if they’ve grown up in environments where boundaries have been consistently violated without consequence. Follow through with consequences without shaming the student.

Create safe attachments for your students. As someone with severe attachment wounds, this step has been a journey for me, and it might be for you, as well. If you struggle with attachment, as I do, start learning to attach with someone who is safe, like a therapist or a coach. As you learn to create healthy attachments, you can begin to teach your students about attachment in your classroom.

Lindsey Taylor of Recentre Ltd. in the UK developed a powerful training for teachers called “Supporting the Hurt Child.” This training program will be launched soon with Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits. You can contact Recentre Ltd. to get on their waiting list.

Help for the Helpers

As I said earlier in this article, I have a soft spot in my heart for teachers. I want to hear from you. Tell me how you are doing. Tell me what worked and didn’t work. Tell me if I missed something.

I want to help you be successful in your calling.

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As always, you do not have to walk this journey alone.

Contact me to schedule your free discovery call.

If you want to stay informed on the programs, tools, and training I offer, sign up for my mailing list.

 

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