Vicarious trauma (VT) includes the harmful changes in the views of professionals, such as K-12 educators, of themselves, the world, and others, due to exposure to traumatic material or graphic of their clients or students. Post-traumatic stress (PTS) is a set of psychological symptoms acquired through exposure to individuals exhibiting the impacts of trauma. K-12 educators who work with students exposed to trauma are susceptible to indirect traumatization due to hearing about the experiences of their students and witnessing the negative influence of VT or PTS in them. Distress associated with PTS results from hearing traumatic stories, seeing distress at high levels post a traumatic event, retelling a victim’s story, and/or viewing trauma-related images. Personal trauma history, supervision experiences evidence, and perceived coping style evidence are predictors for vicarious trauma. Personal trauma history and exposure to trauma material with reasonable evidence are precursors for PTS. K-12 educators’ stressors can force then to eventually leave the professions. Managing educators’ stressors is key to meeting students’ academic success and retaining teachers.
Educators are among the first professionals who interact with kids during crisis. As a result, they are vulnerable to experiencing negative reactions due to interactions with kids who have experienced trauma. A classroom setting presents children with different emotional needs, putting heightened demands on the education and the educator. Therefore, educators require enough knowledge and skills to proactively satisfy the needs of students. K-12 educators working with traumatized students experience burn out feelings with disillusionment of a more demanding role and less support provided. Educators worry about students’ home situations and if their families meet their basic...…recognize traumatic symptoms, and deal with its effect on them. A caring K-12 educator can easily become overly-engaged with a student who has experienced trauma and showing signs of PTS.

An informed educator knows how to balance empathy display with strong emotional control. Experiencing a student’s pain as an educator’s own reduces the teacher’s effectiveness in the life of the learner. This can harm both the student and the educator. Striking a balance between empathy and over-identification with a student’s traumatic experiences is beneficial to the educator’s general well-being and health, including self-awareness and self-care. K-12 educators exposed to students with PTS are vulnerable to effects of trauma such as compassion fatigue, “vicarious trauma” or stress, and burn out. They’re vulnerable to mental, physical, or emotional worn out and/or being overwhelmed by students’ traumatic experiences.…