Teachers and School Leaders Hold So Much—Who Holds Them?
The Emotional Labour of Education
In allied health and other caring professions, reflective supervision is a cornerstone of emotional sustainability. It’s a space to debrief, regulate, and recalibrate—an essential practice for those who hold others through trauma, complexity, and care.
Yet, despite being deeply embedded in the emotional lives of students, colleagues, and families, teachers and school leaders are rarely afforded this same support.
The Hidden Toll of Constant Care
Teachers are navigating secondary trauma, managing escalating student needs, and offering constant emotional scaffolding. But unlike their counterparts in health and social care, they often do so without structured opportunities to reflect, debrief, or receive peer support. The emotional toll is immense—and largely invisible.
What the Research Reveals
Recent research by Adrienne Hornby (2025), published in Teacher Wellbeing: The State of the Nation and the Solutions Our Teachers Want Moving Forward, highlights a critical gap: teachers lack access to targeted professional learning, coaching, mentoring, feedback, and goal-setting. This absence erodes teacher efficacy, motivation, and engagement.
The 2024 Interim Report The Silent Cost: Impact and Management of Secondary Trauma in Educators revealed that 53% of surveyed educators often replay negative work events in their minds after hours. The authors recommend strategies to reduce rumination—such as reflective practice and debriefing—as essential to mitigating this emotional burden.
The Myth of Selfishness
But here’s the deeper issue: many teachers believe that focusing on their own wellbeing is selfish. They carry the emotional weight of the day home with them—feeling hopeless for not “coping” or “handling things better.” Some even carry the trauma of critical incidents without ever debriefing.
While Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) exist, they’re underutilised. Teachers often turn to colleagues for support—those who truly understand—but this informal reliance adds to everyone’s load, especially principals, pastoral care staff, and middle leaders.
A Wake-Up Call from Reflective Supervision
During a recent online course in Reflective Practice and Feedback in Supervision with Dr. Daphne Hewson, I was struck by her words:
“How well we are affects our work. If we are screwed up—our work will screw up.”
Her insight made me pause. Why aren’t schools embedding reflective supervision into their wellbeing frameworks? Why aren’t teachers given space to explore their nervous system states, emotional responses, and pathways to regulation?
The Ripple Effect of Regulation
The ripple effects of regulated teachers are profound—on students, school culture, and the broader educational ecosystem. You can read more about this in my blog The Wide-Reaching Impacts of the Regulated Teacher. But here’s the heart of it: regular, supported reflective practice could be a game-changer. Not just for individual wellbeing, but for systemic sustainability.
What Could Shift?
So I ask you—what would shift if teachers had access to reflective wellbeing sessions? Could this be the missing piece in our pursuit of sustainable, empowered education?
If you’re a teacher, school leader, or wellbeing coordinator seeking space to reflect, regulate, and reconnect—you're not alone. Reflective supervision and wellbeing support aren’t luxuries. They’re essential tools for sustainable, empowered teaching.
Ready to find out more about reflective wellbeing sessions?
At The Teacher Wellbeing Academy, I offer tailored services to help educators feel seen, supported, and strengthened. Explore the one-on-one reflective wellbeing sessions today.
References: Hornby, A. (2025). Teacher wellbeing: The state of the nation and the solutions our teachers want moving forward. Adrienne Hornby Consulting
The Energy Factory Pty Ltd & Deakin University. (2024). The Silent Cost: Impact and Management of Secondary Trauma in Educators (Interim Report).