Helping ESPs Cope Through SEL

Overlooked and overwhelmed, education support professionals need help managing stress.

As Seen in NEA Today By: Cindy Long, edited by Giovanna Bechard

Stories of teachers and students struggling with education during COVID-19 are pouring in. What we don't hear about as often, however, are the difficulties experienced by Education Support Professionals (ESPs). Like everyone else, they have been feeling enormous stress during the pandemic. Confusion, uncertainty, isolation, frustration and anxiety are among the many emotions they report having each day.

"I am very concerned for our students, teachers and staff. I am uncertain as to what our entire year will look like. I am sad for what is happening in our community, country and world," said one ESP in a recent survey.

"During the current COVID-19, I feel I'm on an island. I'm an administrative specialist and I'm not involved in my usual day to day functions of dealing with students and staff. Most of the focus is on what needs to be done in the classroom. This leaves me not really understanding my role during all of this," said another. "As we transition from reactive to proactive on our journey to wellness, the compounding traumas of this crisis call for schools to rethink what it means to educate the whole child and invest deeply in the whole school community," said Chris Cipriano, Assistant Professor and Director of Research at the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence.

Cipriano understands how few people actually know that ESPs make up a third of the entire education workforce and there is a widespread lack of acknowledgement of the scale of their work, which exacerbates their stress.

In a survey her research team conducted of ESPs, they found that most felt overlooked in school reopening plans. They also said they felt frustrated, anxious, and overwhelmed. When asked to take a moment to think about their experiences of stress and frustration at school and the factors that contribute to these experiences, they said those factors were a lack of communication, lack of respect from administration, insufficient time, uncertainty, and dismal wages.

Most ESPs said they had "very little" communication with their colleagues and teams. Special educators also reported less communication with colleagues and teams than general educators.

An Opportunity For Broader Self-And Social Awareness

As ESPs know very well, when stress is not managed well, it can undermine our ability to be effective and can result in burnout. But there are ways to help manage it through Social Emotional Learning (SEL), just as we help students manage their difficult emotions with SEL.

In her team's survey, Cirpriano said educators expressed that they want to feel appreciated, respected, valued, and joyful, and identified their sources of inspiration and joy as their students, colleagues, learning, helping, and families.

To best help students and families, Cipriano said, we must center on supporting the whole school community, including and especially our educators and ESPs.

SEL training and implementation that includes all of the adults who make up the education ecosystem-in school and at home-must be prioritized, she said, for student success.

"We cannot expect teaching, learning, and family functioning to occur in a crisis without attending to our emotions," Cipriano said. She offered several strategies to do this, such as developing self-awareness. Self-awareness includes the ability to recognize and label emotions as the first step in understanding how emotions influence thinking,decisions, and behavior. A high level of self-awareness leads to better self-management, which is the ability to regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively across situations.

"Thriving through a pandemic requires a healthy mental flexibility," Cipriano said.

She also stresses the nurturing of a growth mindset, which includes seeing opportunities to control their experience and outcomes as well as a desire to learn, embrace challenges, and persist in the face of setbacks.

Managing the ambiguous and evolving demands of educating during the pandemic requires healthy emotion management, she said, and emotion regulation strategies can help create the conditions for effective teaching and learning.

Create A Healthy Emotional Climate

Self-care is important for everyone, but equally important is care for the whole school community.

Educators want to feel excited, safe, supported, and calm. When school community members are sensitive to each other's emotional needs and perspectives, it creates a more positive climate for learning and thriving. This means incorporating SEL for everyone.

"SEL training and skills are critical for holding space for safe, difficult, constructive conversations to promote real action," Cipriano said.

The following are tips from the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence to manage stress and control of your surroundings to help create a healthy emotional climate.

Managing Stress

• Self-Awareness, which includes the ability to recognize and label our emotions is the first step to understanding how emotions influence our thinking, decisions, and behavior

• This is key to Self-Managament, the ability to regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behaviors effectively across situations

• Thriving through a pandemic requires a healthy mental flexibility

• What can you control?

• With a growth mindset you can see opportunities to control your experience and outcomes

• A desire to learn

• Embrace challenges

• Persist in the face of setbacks

Wellness Skills for Self-care and Health for Educational Support Professionals

To learn more, a full webinar is available on our website at maineea.org