2021/8/6 A Toolkit For Schools – Compassion Resilience Toolkit

Category: A Toolkit For Schools

F. Facilitator Guide

Before facilitating School Compassion Resilience groups, please reference these tips for facilitating small groups and the en

participants with questions resource.

Tips for Facilitating Small Groups 

Engaging Participants with Questions Resource 

E. Stress Throughout the Career Cycle

The first stage of compassion fatigue is the Zealot Stage which often describes early career educators. The beginning years

education career provide the opportunity to learn specific compassion resilience strategies that can support well-being, effe

the classroom, and longevity in the field.

Support for Teachers in Early Years of Career

New Teachers Face Three Common Challenges 

Responding to New Teachers’ Concerns 

Fun and helpful blog on the kind of people you want to reach out to and keep some distance from in the early years of you

D. Compassionate Response to Colleague’s Pain

We are often the first to see early signs of compassion fatigue and other emotional challenges our colleagues’ experience. 

information linked below provides guidance on how to respond in ways that are helpful and linked to resources your collea

Compassionate Response to Colleagues 

C. Foundational Beliefs About Behavior

One driver of compassion fatigue for anyone who seeks to offer support to others is their beliefs about behavior and what

desired behaviors. If educators approach children, parents, or colleagues with the wrong belief about what problematic beh

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and requires, it is like beating their head against a wall and coming up empty-handed and exhausted. If your school has no

recently reviewing foundational beliefs about children’s behavior, consider presenting this slideshow and leading a brief dis

your next staff meeting. 

Foundational Beliefs About Behaviors 

B. Making and Supporting Change

Whether we are growing our compassion resilience to prevent compassion fatigue or to address existing compassion fatigu

intentional shift often includes changing attitudes and behaviors that no longer serve us well. The Stages of Change offers

people to understand the complex path towards successful change and how to support our own change efforts as well as t

efforts of colleagues and those we

supervise. This model identifies effective action and responses at each stage to avoid the unintended negative consequence

mismatched efforts.

James Prochaska, John Norcross and Carlo DiClemente are the researchers and architects of the Stages of Change model. I

as the Transtheoretical Model. The model assesses an individual’s readiness to act on a new healthier behavior, and provide

or processes of change to guide the individual through the stages of change to Action and Maintenance.

The Stages of Change Powerpoint  provides an overview of the Stages of Change model. View the slides in the mode tha

read the notes for each slide.

Leadership Activity

What’s the Stage? What’s My Response?  This brief activity lists statements to practice identifying the stage they represe

leaders’ ability to identify what stage someone is at so they can choose effective supports for that person’s desired behavio

Pages two and three provide a chart that takes the statements from the What Stage activity and suggests helpful response

that person in their current stage of change.

Staff Activity

Navigating Your Way Through the Stages of Change  handout that describes each stage and gives self-help hints for thos

their own change behaviors and hints for how to help others as they navigate change.

Individual Reflection Worksheet  The individual names a target change and goal behavior, identifies the stage of their cu

and completes questions based on their stage of change.

A. An Introduction for Leaders

An Introduction to the Compassion Resilience Toolkit 

12. Building Compassion-Based Relationships with Caregivers

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Throughout this section, caregiver is used to represent parents, legal guardians, grandparents, and whomever is the primar

a student.

The opportunities educators have for relationships with students’ caregivers can leave them vulnerable to compassion fatig

drivers of compassion fatigue around caregivers can be very similar to those that drive compassion fatigue around students

come to understand the trauma families face, try to meet unrealistic expectations of those relationships, and/or feel ineffec

positive relationships with caregivers, it can lead to behaviors that are signs of compassion fatigue. We do not have to look

educators blaming caregivers, using the home life as an excuse for lowered expectation of students, and not wanting to ge

family context of their students. Of course, the same is true in reverse. It is not uncommon to hear caregivers blaming educ

challenges their children face and spending time building fences rather than bridges.

Distribute this document to all participants to explore prior to the following application activities 

Key Activity

Compassionate Connection to Caregivers Activity – activity for a staff meeting 

Wellness Practice

Bringing It All Together Through My Hands — An activity to summarize compassion and self-compassion found in the docu

distribute in the information section of the toolkit

Circle Agenda

Staff Circle Agenda, Section Twelve 

Supplementary Activities/Handouts

Communicating with Caregivers When There is a Challenge – Handout and possible role-play activity 

What to do when I feel attacked by a parent? – Professionally Speaking Article 

This is an example of setting compassionate boundaries with caregivers.

Video of Teacher Care Meetings Strategy – Collaborative school, parent and student meeting to support positive changes 

Stages of Change Applied to Caregiver Conversations 

For Easy Printing

You can find all documents in this section included in this pdf for easy printing.  

The documents included are numbered individually, not as one document. 

Additional Resources

WI Office of Children’s Mental Health – Language Guide 

11. Wellness and Resilience Strategies: Heart

In the compass model, the four sectors, Mind, Spirit, Strength and Heart, not only contribute to your overall wellness, but a

guidance on strategies to help build your compassion resilience. Heart is one of the sectors. This section will take a deeper

emotions, and our relationships, both with ourselves and with others. We will be invited to focus on our self-compassion as

compassionate in our relationships with students, families and colleagues.

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Distribute this document to all participants to explore prior to the following application activities 

Key Activity

A Self-Compassion Exercise (10min) 

Self-Compassion Self-Scoring Scale (Dr. Neff) 

If Self-Compassion Scale was completed in Section 2, use DPI’s emotional regulation plans listed in the Supplementary

Activities/Handouts section as your key activity asking staff to complete one for themselves.

Wellness Practice

Mindful Self-Compassion Break 

Circle Agenda

Staff Circle Agenda, Section Eleven  

Core Content Visual

Colleague Conversations – Use this Visual and Display in Staff Break Areas 

Posting this visual in common staff areas will serve as a reminder of content covered to staff and perhaps serve as a future

started for deeper reflection among staff members. 

Supplementary Activities/Handouts

Department of Public Instruction’s Emotional Regulation Plan 

Use DPI’s emotional regulation plans asking staff to complete one for themselves.

For Easy Printing

You can find all documents in this section included in this pdf for easy printing.  

The documents included are numbered individually, not as one document. 

Links Specifically for Leadership

Fostering Relationship Building among Staff 

Additional Resources

This article  explains the importance of communication: 7 things to avoid, 11 things to keep in mind.

This article  offers a brief introduction and tips for developing better communication skills through structured dialog and

communicating your trust distinctions.

For more excellent resources on self-compassion go to Dr. Kristin Neff’s website 

10. Wellness and Resilience Strategies: Strength

In the compass model, the four sectors, Mind, Spirit, Strength and Heart, not only contribute to your overall wellness, but a

guidance on strategies to help build your compassion resilience. Strength is one of the sectors. Strength encompasses stres

and care for the body. Stress resilience allows us to maintain a level of calm as we encounter the inevitable stressors of our

Developing our ability to care for our bodies and listen to the signs that our bodies give us, support our whole health and m

unhealthy responses to stress. Becoming stress resilient and caring for our bodies often require assistance from others. Help

key skill for both of the areas in the strength section of the Wellness Compass.

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Distribute this document to all participants to explore prior to the following application activities 

Key Activity

Listening and Responding to Stress in Your Body (10-15 min) 

Wellness Practice

Care for Body – Develop Your Plan (10-15 min) 

Circle Agenda

Staff Circle Agenda, Section Ten 

Core Content Visual 

Choose Nourishing vs. Depleting! – Use this Visual and Display in Staff Break Areas 

Posting this visual in common staff areas will serve as a reminder of content covered to staff and perhaps serve as a future

started for deeper reflection among staff members. 

Supplementary Activities/Handouts

Writing and Sharing Staff Resilience Stories (30-60 min) 

One of our pilot schools for this toolkit experimented with an activity that went so well, they want to share it with other sc

were asked to write a short story about an obstacle they faced and overcame. The stories were submitted anonymously and

students by random staff in various classes. The next day the homeroom teachers led a community building circle to talk ab

students had heard and what it meant to them.

Why it is so hard for teachers to take care of themselves 

Dr. Kelly McGonigal’s TED Talk on How to Make Stress Your Friend  explores a perspective shift on stress.

For Easy Printing

You can find all documents in this section included in this pdf for easy printing.  

The documents included are numbered individually, not as one document. 

Additional Resources

This article  discusses the stages of change applied to emotional resilience. The website offers many brief articles on top

this toolkit.

9. Wellness and Resilience Strategies: Spirit

Spirit is one of the four sectors of the compass model for self-care. Each area contributes to and helps build our compassion

Spirit encompasses connecting to our sense of purpose with intentionality, exposing ourselves to resilience in those we serv

recreating ourselves through rest and play.

Distribute this document to all participants to explore prior to the following application activities 

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Key Activity

Sharing Stories of Resilience (5-10 min) 

Institute the regular practice of sharing stories about current and past students’ resilience.

Wellness Practice

Developing Your Professional Mission Statement (15-30 min) 

Circle Agenda

Staff Circle Agenda, Section Nine 

Core Content Visual to Display in Common Staff Areas

Rest and Play Reflection – Use this Visual and Display in Staff Break Areas 

Posting this visual in common staff areas will serve as a reminder of content covered to staff and perhaps serve as a future

started for deeper reflection among staff members. 

Supplementary Activities/Handouts 

Book study (30-60min) 

For Easy Printing

You can find all documents in this section included in this pdf for easy printing.  

The documents included are numbered individually, not as one document. 

Links Specifically for Leadership

School vision and mission statement development (30-60min) 

Additional Resources

5 Elements of a Powerful Company Mission Statement 

Social Justice and Self-Care: How can teachers do this work without burning out? Video blog from educator (38 mins) 

Know Your Why, Michael Jr. 

Comedian Michael Jr. shares an example of the power of knowing your “why” in your work. 

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