Introducing a Novel Intervention, CoHealing, to Address Teacher Burnout and Indirect Trauma

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the long-standing issues of stress and burnout in the education sector, with teachers and education staff facing unprecedented challenges including significant adjustments to teaching methods and balancing the mental health and academic needs of their students. The resulting challenges have contributed to heightened levels of stress and burnout among teachers and education staff. The impact of the pandemic on teachers and education staff has highlighted the need for greater support and resources to help them cope with these challenges and address their stress and burnout. One such promising intervention, CoHealing, is aimed at promoting a more resilient, interdisciplinary network of trauma-informed helping professionals (e.g., teachers, medical providers, social workers) by reducing secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and isolation. CoHealing is a monthly group-intervention delivered over six months that aims to reduce secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and isolation. CoHealing provides self-regulation tools, relational connection as a coping resource, and psychoeducation on the causes and symptoms of indirect trauma. CoHealing was born out of the need to enhance the relational health of trauma-informed helping professionals and to address indirect trauma and job-related vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, and compassion fatigue across disciplines. Reducing the damaging effects of indirect trauma is critical to maintaining a healthy and resilient workforce that will, in turn, continue to provide high-quality health and human services to individuals and communities experiencing trauma and adversity. This paper provides an intervention description with limited preliminary evidence. More research is needed to robustly evaluate the impacts quantitatively and/or qualitatively.