Boosting school leader wellbeing: how might we best approach secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout?
My ongoing interest in, and published research around, trying times for school leaders started with research into secondary traumatic stress (2019), burnout (2021), and my current PhD exploring secondary/traumatic stress, compassion fatigue and burnout … and looking at how we build for resilience and wellbeing in individual leaders and schools.
As we collectively learn more in these areas, we can be more nuanced in the supports and strategies we utilise and provide to help leaders and schools stay well. For example, while burnout is understood to be an occupational phenomenon, Parker et al (2021) suggest exploring strategies that aid recovery from burnout in three separate domains – work, stress, and personality styles (especially perfectionism).
Secondary traumatic stress symptoms may echo those of PTSD, and are a consequence of secondary trauma exposure. Awareness building, the use of ‘champions’, peer and supervisory support are helpful organisational strategies (Sprang et al., 2023), and strengthening SEL skills and reducing exposure are useful for individuals, as is psychological support if required (Kerig, 2018).
Compassion fatigue can be more of a cumulative, slow build over time than experiences of secondary traumatic stress symptoms, with mindfulness, relaxation, supervision and self-care useful strategies in addition to those listed above (Zhang et al., 2025).
A key take-away is that both schools and individuals can take actions to minimise the impact of stressors, and restore and maintain wellbeing. Together we can approach and manage the impacts of emotional and workload demands in our schools. Come along to our new small group PL workshops in June to learn more!
References: (please email Melinda for other references)
Phillips, M., & Anderson, D. L. (2025). Protective factors for secondary traumatic stress of school staff following student suicide or suicidal behaviour. Journal of Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools, 35(3), 266-277.
Link to free article: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20556365251351704
