Case Study
Education
BACKGROUND
CHALLENGES
High staff turnover
Team dynamics
Safeguarding issues
Staff emotionally impacted by role
Depression and anxiety amongst staff
We were asked to deliver training to staff from a Northern Academy, including teachers, admin and pastoral. Across the board, the main difficulties within the teams were staff turnover and absences, lack of support within teams, safeguarding concerns and the overall emotional impact of the role and dealing with children suffering from a difficult home life. The Senior Management Team were concerned about their teams as they were beginning to demonstrate many of the symptoms of Compassion Fatigue, and this was affecting both staff and pupils as well as morale across the board.
Prior to training, all staff completed a pre-course questionnaire designed to assess their level of Compassion Fatigue and any other issues raised.
PRE COURSE
FEEDBACK
“Very engaging, made me feel less anxious about a lot of things that I felt just bothered me whereas it’s actually a normal thing. ”
“I was able to identify when I am in the anxiety/irritability phase of compassion fatigue and the factors that contribute to this in my work environment - this will help me to know when I need to ask for help/support rather than trying to cope alone or carry everything by myself and hitting withdrawal or robotic phase”
RESULTS
Increased retention
Increased morale
Regular refresher sessions being run
Included as part of onboarding process for new starters
The questionnaire identified that staff were experiencing the emotional impact of their roles, often feeling anxious, irritable, needing time to decompress after work, and emotionally shut down, often with their friends and family. The results also highlighted that staff were regularly working longer hours than they were being paid for, felt guilty if they were off sick, whilst over half were already considering finding other employment.
POST COURSE
The immediate feedback from all was very positive with learners commenting that the content was relevant and impactful. They felt they were given proactive tools and strategies to use to care for their emotional well-being, as well as the knowledge that what they were feeling was normal. Staff felt the training was honest, thought-provoking and an excellent opportunity for self-reflection.
The staff who attended said that the training was a positive experience for them and their team and has helped them cope better with their work, with the majority commenting that regular reviews and training sessions would continue to be beneficial.
Post training, the management team have asked us to come back and roll the training out across the board, run regular refresher sessions, as well as be part of their onboarding process for all new staff members.