School staff often face intense workplace stress and limited resources, making them vulnerable to burnout and secondary traumatic stress (STS), or experiencing stress by learning about the trauma experienced by others. Experiences of burnout and STS among school staff are associated with lower job satisfaction, poor engagement, and greater attrition. In response, a hospital-academic-community partnership aiming to address the social drivers of health in West Philadelphia neighborhoods, piloted the Stress-Less Initiative (SLI), a 12-session, team-based intervention that promotes resilience at the personal, team, and organizational levels, in two under-resourced K-8 public schools.
To evaluate the model’s adaptability to a school setting and its impact on educator and after-school staff well-being, researchers in the Center for Violence Prevention (CVP) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia partnered with the Netter Center for Community Partnerships and two school-based SLI champions. They interviewed five staff members who participated in or facilitated SLI. Insights recently published in the journal, Psychology In the Schools, reveal that participants found SLI timely, meaningful and highly relevant to both their professional and personal lives.
Participants described improvements in personal resilience, stronger team cohesion, and enhanced communication among colleagues. They also cited ways in which SLI positively altered their assessments of and interactions with students. The researchers noted SLI’s relevance was strengthened by being led by a respected school staff member who understood the community and its daily challenges.
“The pilot contributes to a growing understanding of how workplace-based support systems can be adapted to educational systems,” said Hillary M. Kapa, MPH, a clinical research associate in the CVP. “As school staff continue to grapple with stressors that affect their wellbeing and longevity in the classroom, internally facilitated programs like SLI may offer a promising path towards a more supportive and resilient culture that is led from within.”
In addition to positive outcomes, participants identified potential for enhancing the feasibility and sustainability of supportive programs, like SLI, in schools. They emphasized the need for school leader buy-in and vocalization of programming as a priority to promote participation and school-wide culture change. They also suggested better integration of programs like SLI with ongoing professional development to demonstrate clear investment in staff wellbeing and maximize reach within the school community.
This work was supported by CHOP’s Office of Community Impact’s Healthier Together Initiative.
Kapa et al. “‘It Gave Us an Outlet’: School Staff Perspectives on Implementing and Sustaining Culturally Relevant Well-Being Initiatives in Schools.” Psychol Sch. Online March 6, 2025. DOI: 10.1002/pits.23459.
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School staff often face intense workplace stress and limited resources, making them vulnerable to burnout and secondary traumatic stress (STS), or experiencing stress by learning about the trauma experienced by others. Experiences of burnout and STS among school staff are associated with lower job satisfaction, poor engagement, and greater attrition. In response, a hospital-academic-community partnership aiming to address the social drivers of health in West Philadelphia neighborhoods, piloted the Stress-Less Initiative (SLI), a 12-session, team-based intervention that promotes resilience at the personal, team, and organizational levels, in two under-resourced K-8 public schools.
To evaluate the model’s adaptability to a school setting and its impact on educator and after-school staff well-being, researchers in the Center for Violence Prevention (CVP) at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia partnered with the Netter Center for Community Partnerships and two school-based SLI champions. They interviewed five staff members who participated in or facilitated SLI. Insights recently published in the journal, Psychology In the Schools, reveal that participants found SLI timely, meaningful and highly relevant to both their professional and personal lives.
Participants described improvements in personal resilience, stronger team cohesion, and enhanced communication among colleagues. They also cited ways in which SLI positively altered their assessments of and interactions with students. The researchers noted SLI’s relevance was strengthened by being led by a respected school staff member who understood the community and its daily challenges.
“The pilot contributes to a growing understanding of how workplace-based support systems can be adapted to educational systems,” said Hillary M. Kapa, MPH, a clinical research associate in the CVP. “As school staff continue to grapple with stressors that affect their wellbeing and longevity in the classroom, internally facilitated programs like SLI may offer a promising path towards a more supportive and resilient culture that is led from within.”
In addition to positive outcomes, participants identified potential for enhancing the feasibility and sustainability of supportive programs, like SLI, in schools. They emphasized the need for school leader buy-in and vocalization of programming as a priority to promote participation and school-wide culture change. They also suggested better integration of programs like SLI with ongoing professional development to demonstrate clear investment in staff wellbeing and maximize reach within the school community.
This work was supported by CHOP’s Office of Community Impact’s Healthier Together Initiative.
Kapa et al. “‘It Gave Us an Outlet’: School Staff Perspectives on Implementing and Sustaining Culturally Relevant Well-Being Initiatives in Schools.” Psychol Sch. Online March 6, 2025. DOI: 10.1002/pits.23459.
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