Dealing with disclosure and getting help
Dealing with disclosures from both those who have bullied others, and those being bullied, can impact on your own health and wellbeing greatly. There is a great deal of research that looks at the most effective ways to respond to bullying incidents, and encourage students to talk about their experiences, which is shared in the links below.
Helpful resources on dealing with disclosure
- How Teachers Should Respond to Bullying – Peaceful Playgrounds
- Empowering Student Voices – Bullying No Way (PDF, 341kB)
- Helping children recover from trauma – Pursuit by The University of Melbourne
- Dealing with disclosures – Western Australian Department of Health
- Responding to children and young people’s disclosures of abuse – Australian Institute of Family Studies
There is less information on how you can protect yourself from vicarious traumatisation or secondary traumatic stress. Unfortunately, there is not much research on trauma informed practice in supporting teachers who support victims of bullying in Australia. Secondary Traumatic Stress, which can also be called compassion fatigue, is common in teachers. Secondary traumatic stress is the emotional suffering that we can experience when we hear about the traumatic experiences of another person. Prevention is better than treatment when it comes to managing secondary traumatic stress. Being aware of your own emotions and acknowledging your feelings when it comes to stress generated by something like a bullying disclosure, is the first step in reducing the risk of vicarious trauma.
Helpful resources for teachers dealing with stress and vicarious trauma
- When Students Are Traumatized, Teachers Are Too – Edutopia
- Secondary Traumatic Stress – Treatment and Services Adaptation Center
- Helping Teachers Manage the Weight of Trauma – Harvard Graduate School of Education
- Trauma and teacher practice: Actions that heal – Association of California School Administrators