Over the past months, I don’t believe I’ve had a single conversation with a school or AEA staff member that didn’t rapidly find its way to the topic of adult well-being and toxic stress in the workplace. A recent Gallup poll showed that workers’ daily stress levels around the world are at an all-time high even before the end of 2020, and we know that the stressors being experienced in our education settings have only been magnified since then. Over 50% of education workers are experiencing unhealthy stress levels during some part of their workday. That means that even if you are not being negatively impacted by stress, you are very likely working alongside colleagues who are.
Stress vs. Stressors
In trying to understand you and your colleagues' needs, I have found it useful to differentiate between stress and stressors.
Stress is the body’s physiological response to adverse circumstances. It is an actual chemical reaction in your body, and it can manifest itself in a variety of symptoms from elevated heart rate to sweaty palms to nausea.
Stressors, on the other hand, are the forces that activate our body’s stress response, and they can be internal or external. We normally think of stress being triggered by external stressors like work demands, kid demands, economic pressures and interpersonal conflict. What we recognize less often are our internal stressors like self-criticism, perfectionism, unrealistic expectations and comparing ourselves to others. These internal stressors are common in professional life, especially in service fields like education.
When stress cycles are prolonged, educators can begin to feel a lack of accomplishment, a feeling that nothing they are doing really seems to be making a difference. It is an emotional exhaustion that comes from dealing with adverse circumstances for too long and from caring too much for too long. This is the definition of burnout and causes people to quit caring as a form of self-preservation. It’s a desperate condition, but the good news is there are things we can do about it.
At Heartland AEA, we know that as an employer we have the ability and the responsibility to relieve some of the external stressors that are leading to job-related stress for some of you. We are attempting to do this in several ways.
Moving Up the Hiring Cycle
One of those ways is by moving up our hiring cycle in order to hire more staff sooner. We recognize that workload is an external stressor currently being experienced by many and that we cannot wait for the traditional hiring season to try to add staff in many areas. We have hired new SLPs in the last week and continue to look for opportunities to hire more staff whenever we can find suitable candidates.
Implementing Behavioral Therapy Through Our EAP
This month our board of directors approved an expansion of our employee assistance program (EAP). There is a program within our EAP called AbilitiCBT, and it will allow all staff to access free cognitive behavioral therapy from a licensed therapist through a secure online platform, which is available 24/7. (Look for more details in the near future).
Listening Circles
In addition to attempting to hire more staff and expanding mental health services, we are continuing to offer Listening Circles, where trained facilitators are helping participants to share and process their experiences.
Continuing to Identify Stressors at Leaders' Meetings
At our monthly agency Leaders’ Meetings, we will continue to work to identify the stressors that are impacting you. I encourage you all to keep the channels of communication open to help us learn how we can continue to learn how to better help and support you.
The last thing I want to say, especially as we enter the holiday season, is that each of us has an opportunity to be a stress reducer for others. We live and work in a community, and we need to see and be seen. Remember that one of the signs of burnout is the feeling that one is not making a difference. When caring people work hard for others for extended periods of time, they need to be cared for themselves.
Remind Others of Their Value
Sometimes we can reduce our own stress through exercise, deep breathing, hard laughter or a walk in the sun. Sometimes, though, we just need to be truly seen and appreciated by others. We need a colleague to remind us how special we are and how much we are making a difference. I do believe that to remedy stress, we need to do our best to eliminate stressors, but I also believe there is no substitute for the authentic giving of appreciation to others. When we give honest appreciation to someone, it not only allows that person to be seen and reminded of their value, it allows us to actually reduce our own stress response through giving to someone else. Try it. Take a minute to honestly appreciate someone and see if it doesn’t make you feel better.
Have a great Thanksgiving break. I appreciate your work. You are making a difference!
Jon
Mission Monday is the creation of Mark Johnson and Sam Stecher. As teachers, coaches and leaders, they desired a way to consistently create connections and a sense of community in their school buildings. 