Mind-Body Group for Teacher Stress: A Trauma-Informed Intervention Program

ABSTRACT

The issue of teacher stress is prominent and pervasive in today’s educational climate. Teacher stress stems from multiple sources, and one more recently articulated source for teacher stress includes trauma-related stress. Teachers experience trauma-related stress when working with students who have experienced traumatic histories. Given the fact that trauma is a pervasive issue in today’s school systems, a significant number of teachers are experiencing trauma-related stress. Teachers experiencing trauma-related stress are left vulnerable to developing myriad significant issues, including vicarious traumatization and compassion fatigue. The purpose of this article is to showcase the development, implementation, preliminary evaluation, and future directions of the Mind-Body Group for Teacher Stress (MBGTS), a group intervention program specifically designed to serve as a resource for teachers experiencing trauma-related stress. MBGTS incorporates both psychoeducation around trauma, as well as various mind-body skills teachers can use to cope with trauma-related stress. This practice article highlights MBGTS within its pilot implementation; overall, the program demonstrated promise, as it was well received and positively evaluated by its participating teachers.

KEYWORDS:

• Mind-body
• stress
• teachers
• trauma
• trauma-informed care
• trauma-related stress
• vicarious traumatization

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Maytal Eyal

Maytal Eyal, M.A., is a doctoral student in Counseling Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.

Travis Bauer

Travis Bauer, B.A., is a doctoral student in Counseling Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.

Emily Playfair

Emily Playfair, B.A., is a doctoral student in Counseling Psychology in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.

Christopher J. McCarthy

Christopher J. McCarthy, Ph.D., is department chair and graduate adviser in the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin.