Addressing Compassion Fatigue in Urban Schools: Strategies for Sowing Seeds of Resilience

As more students experience trauma and anxiety, the toll of teachers’ compassion fatigue cannot be overlooked. This important book explores what compassion fatigue looks and feels like for teachers, who can become mentally and physically exhausted from caring and loving their students and may not want to stay in the profession as a result. Topics explore symptoms that may arise, the research on educator health and well-being, and strategies you can implement in your classroom and personal life to mitigate the effects. Each chapter offers vignettes to showcase teachers’ experiences with compassion fatigue, reflection questions to help you relate to the content personally and professionally, and tools you can use throughout the school year. With this powerful book, teachers will be armed with enough awareness and knowledge to make powerful choices that improve their quality of life and, by extension, school climate, working conditions, and ultimately the social, emotional, and academic well-being of all students.

Jacquelyn Ollison is an equity-focused education expert in improving teacher retention in high-poverty schools by addressing teachers’ compassion fatigue. She is a featured TEDx speaker on educators’ compassion fatigue, and she knows the impact compassion fatigue has on educators because it happened to her, and she left the classroom. She is the Director of the Center for Research on Expanding Educational Opportunity at UC Berkeley and an instructor at the UC Merced Extension Teacher Preparation Program.