Secondary Trauma

The Importance of Staff Wellbeing

Underpinning Process

At The Key, we recognise that working with pupil and families who are themselves experiencing trauma and toxic stress will cause our staff to indirectly experience stress, in form of Secondary Trauma, also known as Vicarious Trauma or Burnout.

Staff wellbeing is important in any organisation, but particularly when working with pupils that exhibit unproductive behaviour, as staff have to rationalise interactions in a process of projective identification, shown opposite.

Maintaining Wellbeing

At The Key, although we promote the need for staff to take responsibility for their wellbeing, reminding of the telltale signs on a regular basis, we advocate and organise a number of other methods to promote healthy and positive staff development, including supporting informal networks, facilitating professional learning communities, offering monthly line management meetings and weekly trauma-informed supervision sessions.

‘To address relational trauma we need relational repair. Our ability to make healthy relationships, even amongst complex and sometimes hostile contexts, is one of our greatest tools. Therefore, self-care and stress management is paramount to enabling this relational process.’

Dr. Karen Triesman

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