Increase in reports of mental health distress
In the fall of 2019, leaders from the Alberta Teachers’ Association (ATA) and Alberta School Employee Benefit Plan (ASEBP) noticed an alarming increase in reports of mental health distress from their membership of teachers, educational assistants and administrators. They partnered to sponsor a research study. In January 2020, I was asked to investigate the scope and experiences of compassion fatigue and burnout in Alberta educational workers.
Psychologist Charles Figley described compassion fatigue in 1995. He observed that therapists experienced symptoms similar to post-traumatic stress disorder after working with traumatized clients. His work led to a new understanding of the heavy emotional, mental and physical cost to professionals who cared for vulnerable, hurting or grieving people.