Coping With the Cost of Caring, Part 1: Approaching a Breaking Point in the Current Educational System

Abstract

Supporting students’ emotional health has become indispensable considering unprecedented collective trauma and present-day stressors including the COVID-19 pandemic, gun violence, longstanding systemic inequities, and a polarized political climate impacting the educational system. In addition to navigating personal and occupational stressors, teachers are frequently exposed to secondhand accounts and effects of students’ traumatic experiences, increasing their risk of compassion fatigue (i.e., the mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion that results from working with and caring for individuals who are impacted by distress and trauma). Teachers’ emotional resilience is essential in the fight against compassion fatigue, burnout, and withdrawal from the profession. The first of a two-part series, this article lays groundwork that encourages pre-service, early career, and veteran physical and health educators to reflect on risk factors and protective factors that safeguard their socioemotional health as they are asked to continue to give. It begins by describing the role of teachers as emotional first responders in the classroom, followed by risk factors and symptoms of compassion fatigue. The importance, challenges, and limitations of practicing “self-care” as a commonly suggested way to prevent and manage compassion fatigue are addressed. Finally, a call is made for a paradigmatic shift aimed at protecting and uplifting teachers and students. The second part of the series continues this discussion by providing guided activities that encourage teachers to explore, practice, and reflect on personalized and practical coping strategies for emotion regulation that promote well-being and healthful longevity in the profession.