Staff Wellbeing

Dr. Ayre: Given the nature and complexity of the children you teach and the effect that can have on staff, how do you look after your team and their wellbeing?

Dr. Ziegler: We’re the only non-profit, non-government organisation that I’m aware of that has a mission statement that says, “we are committed to the development of mind, body and spirit of our staff”. The first thing we know about job satisfaction is that whatever we do works, and we feel like we’re making a difference. I want you to consider, if you worked for me in one of my classrooms and you saw children coming in after having failed everywhere they had been in school, and now they’re succeeding for the first time, how would you feel going home at night?

Dr. Ayre: I’d feel absolutely delighted.

Dr. Ziegler: Once a year, we ask all the staff in detail how they feel about their job. Universally, what they say back in terms of the things that are most important about working at Jasper Mountain, and I have people that have worked here for two and three decades and can’t wait to come to work the next day, they universally say that making a difference in the lives of these kids, makes all the difference to them in terms of their own energy. Despite how hard it is and how much you have to give when you see that there is success, there’s nothing like that to give you more energy and say, “well, I’m going to do it some more”.

We provide our staff with excellent supervision, and research now indicates that your relationship with your supervisor and the support you get is all-important, as is the support you have with your peers. The second most important thing our staff say about working for us is that they work for a team of very committed individuals who want to make a difference. “let’s get back at it and let’s change some more lives” They don’t want to let down the team. They want to do their part. One of the questions we ask all of our 135 staff is, “what are your plans for the future?” and 80 percent say they want to spend their entire careers at Jasper Mountain. I don’t know how to respond to that. I’m so impressed that people would like to stick around and work and make a difference and be a part of this team. Along with working and living in one of the healthiest and most beautiful places in the US, those things all contribute to making a team of people that go home at night tired, maybe in tears, but they sleep well, then get up in the morning and say, “let’s get back at it and let’s change some more lives”.

Conclusion

In this chapter we looked at:

• Teachers need ongoing coaching and support to learn they can teach a child with trauma successfully. It is important to have fun, success and be able to predict what’s coming next. These are vital elements for teaching traumatized children.