Trauma Recovery: Wellness for Counselors and Teachers

1. Trauma Recovery: Wellness for Counselors and Teachers Dr. Vaughn Millner

2. Objectives As a result of this viewing this presentation, participants will be able to: • Identify personal signs of compassion satisfaction and fatigue • Examine various components of mental health • Begin an individual wellness plan

3. Helpers Also Cope with Disaster and Trauma It is essential that as you care for others during disaster recovery, you take care of yourself. How are you • Mentally? • Physically? • Emotionally? • Spiritually?

4. Balance • Mind • Body • Spirit

5. Stress at Work (2005 Wellness Councils of America) • 40% of individuals say that job is “very” or “extremely” stressful • 43% of adults suffer health problems due to stress – about 90 million people • 75% to 90% of all visits to primary care physicians are stress-related

6. GENERAL ADAPTATION SYNDROME(Hans Selye) When stress strikes, the following occurs: • Alarm Reaction. Prepares the body for flight or fight. • Resistance. Your body releases stress hormones. Blood pressure, heart rate, respiration, and body temperature increase. • Exhaustion. Body’s ability to adapt runs out.

7. Burnout • Condition of feeling “wasted physically, emotionally, spiritually, interpersonally, and behaviorally (MacClusky and Ingersoll)

8. Stages of Burnout

9. Three Stages of Burnout(Texas Medical Association) • Stress Arousal (persistent irritability, anxiety; high blood pressure; bruxism; insomnia; forgetfulness; heart palpitations; unusual heart rhythm; inability to concentrate; headaches) • Energy Conservation (lateness for work, procrastination; need 3 day weekends; decreased sexual desire; tiredness in mornings; turning work in late; social withdrawal; cynical attitudes; resentfulness; increased caffeine consumption; increased alcohol consumption; apathy) • Exhaustion (chronic sadness or depression; stomach or bowel problems; mental fatigue; headaches; desire to “drop out”

10. Burnout results in: • Exhaustion • Cynicism • Tense exchanges with others including students Particularly impacts those in caring professions • Low level, chronic fuzziness of caring for others to feeling emotionally “numb”

11. Compassionate Caring • Compassionately caring for others without taking time for self is a recipe for burn-out. • The higher your level of conscientiousness, the higher the danger of burnout (American Academic of Family Physicians, 1997).

12. Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) (sometimes called compassion fatigue or vicarious traumatization) • Risk related to empathy with another’s traumatic information • Can result from hearing emotionally shocking material from others over time • Can result in depression, insomnia, loss of intimacy; “numbing” of feelings

13. Watch for these signs: BEHAVIORAL • Clock watching • Postponing contact with children • Postponing returning phone calls • Generalizing others (Example: When faced with a few children misbehaving in the classroom, thinking “They’re all the same”) • Increased use of drugs to control mood/sleep • Marital conflict • Absenteeism

14. PSYCHOLOGICAL Resistance to going to work every day Sense of failure Feelings of resentment Feelings of discouragement or indifference Negativism Self-preoccupation Feelings of powerlessness Rigidity in thinking and resistance to change Anxiety Depression Feelings of guilt and blame Suppressing emotion Suppressing problems Refusing to handle stress effectively Difficulty in saying “no” Assuming additional responsibility Sacrificing personal life for work Watch for these signs:

15. Watch for these signs: PHYSICAL • Tired during workday • General fatigue • Exhaustion • Sleep problems • Frequents colds and/or flu • Frequent headaches • Frequent gastro-intestinal problems • Frequent aches and pains • Long time to rebound in enthusiasm and energy about work

16. Helper Traits and Burnout • Fragile self-esteem • Lacking intimacy in personal life • Isolation • Need to rescue others • Need for reassurance about self worth • Substance abuse

17. Avoiding Compassion Fatigue & Burnout • Increase personal capabilities • Enhance support systems

18. Meeting your needs • After trauma, the school system will attempt to meet students’ basic needs, such as providing physiological support and a sense of safety. The school and you also help to provide a sense of belonginess to students. Remember: you have these needs, as well. • Getting your needs met results in you: a. Feeling self-determined b. Interpersonally connected c. Feeling competent

19. Assume Personal Responsibility Compassion fatigue can be avoided. • Main Optimism • Take control over personal well-being. No one will do this for you. • Make wise choices through each day. • Take personal action. Do not put off taking care of self.

20. Wellness Focus • Recognize the signs and symptoms • Correct thoughts and attitudes that are hurting you. (Example: Change “I can’t keep doing this” to “I can do most things over a brief period of time. I really do care about others.”) • Talk to responsive and responsible colleagues • Be assertive; set limits; learn to say “no”

21. Recovery • Listen to your body. • Reassess your values. • Pace yourself. • Take care of your body. • Maintain your sense of humor.

22. Living with our Values • “Better to fail at doing the right thing than to succeed at doing the wrong thing” ~ Guy Kawasaki “The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.” ~ Stephen Covey

23. Take a Moment Now: Contract With Self • What will I do by the end of this week that will help me take better care of myself? __________________________________ __________________________________ __________________________________ Signature __________________________

24. Intention and Persistence • Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do. ~John Wooden

25. Cognitive Restructuring • Experience is not what happens to you - it’s how you interpret what happens to you. ~Aldous Huxley

26. Develop a Wellness Philosophy I suggest you express these thoughts to yourself • I have all the time I need to accomplish my work. • I give myself personal time. • I provide myself with good nutrition. • I exercise myself (body, mind, spirit). • I have fun. • I spend time with friends and family. • I connect with a higher being. • My life has purpose.

27. Self-Reflection • The biggest change we can make is to make a change within ourselves.

28. Persistence • Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm. ~Winston Churchill

29. Leisure: Take Time for Yourself • “As I must repeat once again, the first principle of all action is leisure.” (Aristotle, Po., Bk VII,3) • Time is “of the essence” • Now is the time of your life. • You are free to choose your thoughts and free to be. Play during free time.

30. Investing in Life Click below for a reminder to take time for yourself (from www.workyourlife.com): http://www.scottstratten.com/movie.html

31. Thank you. • You have been given a tremendous task. You have children and adolescents in your care who particularly need to feel safe and wanted. They may not know how to express this. Of all the lessons they learn throughout life, the lessons they learn now will be among those not soon forgotten. • Thank you so much for being there.

32. References • American Academy of Family Physicians (1997). Balancing act: Are you stressed out? Retrieved February 17, 2005. Available at http://www.aafp.org/fpm/970300fm/balance.html • Aronson, E., Pines, A. M. (1988). Career burnout: Causes & cures. New York, NY: The Free Press. • Arthur, N. M. (1990). The assessment of burnout: A review of three inventories useful for research and counseling. Journal of Counseling and Development, 69, 186-189. • Canfield, J., & Miller, J. (1998). Heart at work: Stories and strategies for building self-esteem and re-awakening the soul at work. New York: McGraw Hill. • Chandler, C., Bodenhamer-Davis, E., Holden, J. M., Everson, T., & Bratton, S. (2001). Enhancing personal wellness in counselor trainees using biofeedback: An exploratory study. Applied Psychophysiological Biofeedback, 26(1), 1-7.

33. References • Corey, G., Corey, M. S., & Callanan, P. (2003). Issues and ethics in the counseling professions (6th ed.). Pacific Grove, California: Brooks/Cole. • Davis, M., Eshelman, E. R., & McKay, M. (1999). The relaxation and stress reduction workbook (4th. ed.). Oakland, CA: New Harbinger. • Figley, C. R. (1995). Compassion fatigue: Toward a new understanding of the costs of caring. In B. H. Stamm (Ed), Secondary traumatic stress: Self-care issues for clinicians, researchers, and educators (pp. 3-28). Lutherville, MD: Sidran Press. • Gladding, S. T. (2000). Counseling: A comprehensive profession (4th ed.). Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. • Kleinke, C. (1998). Coping with life’s challenges (2nd. ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole. • LiPuma, R. (2004). A four-step wellness model for self-understanding and total health-1992

34. References • MacCluskie, K. C., & Ingersoll, R. E. (2001). Becoming a 21st century agency counselor: Personal and professional explorations. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson. • Miller, L. (1998). Our own medicine: Traumatized psychotherapists and the stresses of doing therapy. Psychotherapy, 35, 137- 146 • Moore, T. (1992). Care of the soul: A guide for cultivating depth and sacredness in everyday life. New York: Harper Collins. • O’Halloran, T. M., & Linton, J. M. (2000). Stress on the job: Self-care resources for counselors. Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 22(4), 354-364. • Pearlman, S. D. (1995). Self-care for trauma therapists: Ameliorating vicarious traumatization. In B. H. Stamm (Ed.), Secondary traumatic stress: Self-care issues for clinicians, researchers, and educators (pp. 51-64). Lutherville, MD: Sidran Press.

35. References • Powers, A. S., Myers, J. E., Tingle, L. R., & Power, J. C. (2004). Wellness, perceived stress, mattering, and marital satisfaction among medical residents and their spouses: Implications for education and counseling. The Family Journal, 12(1), 26-36. • Sherman, M. D. (1996). Distress and professional impairment due to mental health problems among psychotherapists. Clinical Psychology Review, 16, 299-315. • Thompson, R. A. (1996). Counseling techniques: Improving relationships with others, ourselves, our families, and our environment. Philadelphia, PA: Accelerated Development. • Walsh, R. (2000). Asian psychotherapies. In Corsini, R. J. & Wedding, E. (Eds.). Current psychotherapies , pp. 407-444. Itasca, IL: Peacock. • Watkins, C. E. (1983). Burnout in counseling practice: Some potential professional and personal hazards of becoming a counselor. Personnel and Guidance Journal, 61, 304-308.

36. References • Well, A. (1998). Health and healing. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. • Wellness Council of America (2005). Stress management at work. Retrieved February 28, 2005 from www.welcoa.org.