I’m afraid that providing more mental health assistance is slapping a band-aid on the Titanic. Despite the great and necessary service that those people do, increasing their numbers doesn’t address the underlying issue. There will come a point in our society when there aren’t enough people to assist others as necessary. At some point increasing the number of mental health professionals in perpetuity will become unattainable. What we need is to change the underlying culture that leads to such traumatic and tragic outcomes. Let’s hope that we realize that before much more unacceptable damage is done.

Thank you for sharing your experience. It’s no wonder burnout is so common in the teaching profession. We often don’t include teachers when thinking of secondary trauma or compassion fatigue. The profession certainly doesn’t pay enough for the emotional experiences that accompany it.