October 15th, 2014

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Stress

Wednesday, October 15th, 2014

I attended a two-hour seminar put on by the Indiana Youth Institute at our local Y Wednesday afternoon. The title was “Trauma-Informed Care for Educators.” Without a doubt it was geared to those who see students in the classroom on a daily basis or in their office because of bad behavior brought on by trauma. Ryan (our youth pastor) and I wanted to attend and I believe I can honestly say we were the only pastors there. 🙂 I also can honestly say it was not a wasted two hours. Since I have a daughter who teaches 1st grade and another who works in the daycare industry, it sure helped me understand things better.

It also helped me to see that both schools and churches often battle the same kind of junk…kids who are dealing with trauma and don’t know what to do about it. Adults who are dealing with trauma because they never got help they needed earlier.

While it was definitely speaking of youth trauma, one of the most helpful lesson I learned was STS. (previous line reworked after Daniel’s comment) Say what? Secondary Traumatic Stress. To use one of their quotes: “We are stewards not just of those who allow us into their lives but of our own capacity to be helpful.”

Interpretation: we are no good to anyone if we don’t take care of ourselves. While people can be traumatized by life events, helpers (pastors, counselors, teachers, etc) can find themselves so wrapped up in lives they don’t take care of themselves. The result is STS.

Symptoms include: emotional exhaustion, chronic fatigue, physical illness, sadness/helplessness, poor concentration, detachment, and others. That sure sounds like someone we might say is suffering from BURNOUT. Been there done that, don’t ever want to again.

The solution is a bit of self care: eating well, exercising, engaging in fun activities (and people wonder why I ride), taking a break during the workday, avoiding tendencies to bury feeling with substances or other excessive activities.

I have to wonder how many of my colleagues have felt the burn from too much and quit or wanted to quit and didn’t really know why? STS is not something to shake a stick at and dismiss. No one is Iron Man or Wonder Woman (or Captain America).

What are you doing to relieve stress? Do you know anyone you can help with this information? How about yourself?Â