Document Type
Article
Publication Date
Summer 2021
Abstract
Students are facing more adverse traumatic experiences at an early age in their lifetime. When students enter school, their teachers begin to take on new roles and often learn and encounter the trauma alongside of these students. Secondary trauma in educators is on the rise and many do not know how to manage it. This literature review will examine the impacts that secondary trauma has on teachers, how it shapes and impacts teachers’ roles in education, what causes secondary trauma, and how teachers can adapt and overcome the impacts and implications that secondary trauma causes in their professional and personal lives. Teachers are key members for supporting students in mental health and helping them cope with the trauma. Teachers need to identify secondary trauma in their lives and begin to cope with it using self-care strategies so they are effectively able to be present with their students and not feel the major impacts that secondary trauma can cause in their mental health. This literature review finds that school leaders are the key to investing in educators by providing professional development in trauma, secondary trauma, and self-care to help prevent negative impacts from secondary trauma that can ultimately lead to teacher burnout.