VIEWS & OPINION
The death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes highlights the need to support our staff
Comment by Dr ASHA PATEL, CEO of education not-for-profit Innovating Minds
Many staff feel ill prepared for dealing with children's trauma. Michelle Stephenson, former deputy head at Young People's Academy, said: 'It is our responsibility to spot signs of abuse, to talk to children about emotional issues, to deal with bereavement and trauma, to help them get appropriate help when they take drugs, can't manage a day in school or a day without alcohol or are fighting the urge to cut or burn themselves. Nobody talked about that in our PGCE.'
Why staff need this support
No one can stop the flow of distressing information or stop staff from feeling an emotional connection to the children they work with. 'Some days we just sit and cry over what these children have been through,' said Hollie O’Sullivan, the Head of EAL at Great Barr Academy. She works with unaccompanied minors from trouble areas across the globe, pupils who have experienced trauma and PTSD and witnessed atrocities, including one boy who saw his teacher murdered.
On 6th December education secretary Nadhim Zahawi announced there would be a national enquiry into the death of Arthur Labinjo-Hughes. His father Thomas Hughes was found guilty of manslaughter and his stepmother Emma Tustin was jailed for a minimum of 29 years for the boy’s murder. Although Arthur died of a head injury, he had over 130 bruises and had been poisoned with salt, starved and beaten during many months of abuse by both the adults.
Arthur’s name is now added to the list of children who have been killed by members of their family and where the agencies have been blamed for not intervening in a timely manner to safeguard the child.
The cost of caring
Working with vulnerable people, listening to distressing information and having empathic relationships will all have an impact on mental health. We call this the cost of caring. Many people were deeply affected by the story of Arthur, and it is often the details that haunt them - the stepmother recording the boy's suffering on her phone in the hours before he died, his father cutting up his favourite football shirt and taking away his teddy. These images linger.
Det Insp Laura Harrison of West Midlands Police said: 'We don’t ordinarily get faced with CCTV like this. The footage really got to the heart of what Arthur was being subjected to and that's why it’s been so hard-hitting and different to similar cases. Specialist grief counsellors were drafted in support the police haunted by the details of Arthur’s final weeks.
It is the same for many teachers who have a pastoral role in schools. One primary school teacher left the profession because after repeatedly reporting concerns about a child, the family moved away and the authorities lost touch with him, 'I could not sleep for worrying about him,' he said. 'But also I knew that if I stayed I would probably go through the same thing again with another child because there are too many gaps in the system. I had to find another job for my own mental health'.
20
www.education-today.co.uk
Those working in early years feel vulnerable. Some children have attachment difficulties and those staff who are directly responsible for working with distressed children often worry that they lack the necessary training or experience. This is why many caring professions routinely have clinical supervision for staff. This is regular ongoing support that lets individuals reflect on the work they are doing in a safe space. Staff are sometimes initially reluctant because they worry that they will be judged. It is important that they know that clinical supervision is not therapy or counselling and it does not replace appraisals, supervision or evaluations of staff performance and workload.
How to organise clinical supervision
Some organisations opt for one to one and others prefer group sessions. That is for the setting to decide. All sessions will be confidential unless there are safeguarding concerns. One-to-one sessions with the same supervisor helps to build a trusting relationship and maximise personal growth while group supervision should be with the same two or three peers each time to ensure a safe space is created.
Clinical supervision is an effective form of professional development. It helps people to develop their psychological mindedness, their capacity to analyse their own attitudes, prejudices and responses with curiosity.
The benefits of clinical supervision
By having access to frequent clinical supervision, staff in your setting will be able to reflect upon their work and process distressing information that may impact on their emotional and mental health. It is a way of protecting staff's well-being.
It provides benefits to the organisation • Improving staff emotional wellbeing
• Helping staff to recognise and manage emotional distress • Creating healthier relationships at school and home • Reducing absence, presenteeism and staff turnover Some staff have been in caring roles all their working life. They are used to looking after other people but need to learn how to look after themselves too. A nursery worker said: 'It was great to embrace the movement and have time to talk and share solutions to problems together without being pressurised or rushed. It has also impacted in a good way at home. My well-being has increased therefore I am better equipped to support my team and the children at school.' For more information on clinical supervision have a look at:
https://www.innovatingmindscic.com/clinical-supervision-hub
January 2022
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
