By Shirley Giroux, Local President, McBride-Valemount Teachers’ Association,
in conversation with Susan Yao, teacher, Delta
Although we tend to be very collaborative when working toward supporting positive outcomes for students, teachers are often not so proactive when it comes to taking care of our own needs as human beings. Given the complexity of teaching—management of multiple caregiving, instructional, assessment, and organizational demands, while under time pressures for each—it is understandable that teachers might benefit from opportunities to reconnect with what is most meaningful for them within a supportive community of colleagues. The systematic and sustained use of facilitated peer support groups is one way that teachers can support each other: a Circle of Trust is one such group.
In 2019, I completed a PhD in Health Sciences wherein I used a mixed-methods approach to research the ways in which female teachers enacted their resilience given multiple caregiving responsibilities. In particular, I was interested in the ways people managed to care for children all day at work (i.e., focusing on the caring labour aspect of teaching) and then head home to their own children. As part of that research, I used participatory narrative inquiry,(1) a narrative qualitative method where research participants share individual stories and then are also invited to interpret the collected results in groups of participants. Watching teachers read and make sense of stories shared by their colleagues from across the province provided me with the single greatest insight from my studies: that providing teachers time together to hear about each other’s experiences in a supportive environment is a validating and valuable endeavour. As a registered clinical counsellor, I connected this observation to my experience of clinical supervision, which—in its various forms—is a primary mechanism through which mental health professionals process the emotional aspects of their intensely interpersonal work.
Based on my research observations, my understanding of clinical supervision, and the resilience literature, I wondered why teachers did not also have a consistent, reliable, trust-worthy means of supporting each other and processing the intrapersonal effects of their interpersonal work. I have spent the last five years testing models through which this might be accomplished. In 2021, I discovered Parker Palmer’s Circle of Trust retreats,(2) which appeared to include all of the features that I knew were valuable in a teacher group intended to help simultaneously support introspection and reflection, connection with colleagues, and momentum for systems change. In the spring of 2024, I reached the point in my training as a Circle of Trust retreat facilitator where I was required to plan and facilitate my capstone retreat, which I elected to do as an online option to support the work of union leaders, such as Local and Sublocal Presidents—the latter group which includes me. One of these participants was Susan Yao, Local President of Delta at that time.
Susan’s story
The first meeting of the Circle of Trust introduced me to the practice of “being touchstones” in a way that was respectful and provided clarity on the expectations of members of the circle. This practice creates intentional space for collaboration. Gentle and engaging prompts challenged us to consult our inner voices in identifying which of the eleven touchstones resonated and why.
This was followed by work on the questions we ask ourselves and questions we ask others, including about our emotions and the important data they can provide. We delved deeper into asking questions: looking at what makes an honest, open-ended question.
With several small-group experiences, we developed our skills in a setting where the guidelines of trust had been established. This, for me, is key to being able to discuss difficulties and to be able, from that, to find the insights that come from “respecting that the inner teacher is present in and guiding each of us while we learn in community.” The experience provided space to both give and receive honest, open questions in community, and opportunity to gain insights about myself and others. As someone in the group said, “Sometimes we need to vocalize to hear our voice come to life!”
Yes! Engaging in the Circle of Trust gave me the powerful experience of engaging with others in community while exploring individual members’ challenges, including my own specific concerns. Being in the circle allowed me to explore and consolidate issues with questions that—more than once!—I received as thoughtful gifts because they allowed me to dig deeper. Knowing how to ask questions that can become gifts to another has been transformative in my relationships, particularly with my adult children.
The duality of life and the paradox of connection and disconnection were part of the work over the three mornings we came together. We worked with metaphor and imagery to find insights: identifying with the strength of a Douglas fir, the nourishing fruit of an age-twisted apple tree, and the gnarled peeling beauty of the arbutus prompted other thoughts in me. As a child, I experienced concern and anxiety encountering a leaf-filled forest in fall. Who will clean this? Who will sweep these up? I was anxious about the chaotic layers of leaves covering and cluttering the forest floor. I am working through my anxieties about the world and its chaos, my life and its chaos, and finding meaning in the juiciness and nourishment that lies within and underneath the chaos. The Circle of Trust provided a safe, supportive space to do some of this deep work. As someone said, “Connection is there if you allow it.” The Circle of Trust has that potential.
While this particular group was convened on behalf of folks who were released from their teaching duties for union work, the other teacher groups I have run have been outside of the teaching day. In my current district, we have access to supplementary pay to support approved work (generally special projects such as groups of this type) outside of school hours, which helps affirm that collaborative work is a valuable and valued part of teaching. My vision for the future of education is that we have more supported spaces of this type to connect with ourselves and each other with the recognition that our work is primarily relational, which has repercussions for our continued well-being as teachers. I look forward to continuing this conversation.
1 C. Kurtz, Working with Stories in Your Community or Organization: Participatory Narrative Inquiry (3rd ed.), Kurtz-Fernhout Publishing, 2014.
2 P. Palmer, A Hidden Wholeness: The Journey Toward an Undivided Life, Jossey-Bass, 2004.