Caring for yourself and your team
Thank you for all you do in service to those who have experienced crime. We know it is a hard job, and often it is made harder by things like vicarious trauma, moral injury, and burnout. So this month, we are focusing on provider wellbeing because you and your team are important, too.
We pulled together this collection of resources, trainings, and other material centered on moral injury, burnout, and vicarious trauma. The collection includes information on trauma exposure in APS, compassion fatigue, postvention strategies for losing clients to suicide, and more. As always, please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’re looking for more!
Trauma on the Job: Surviving Exposure in APS
APS Technical Assistance Resource Center
March 2024
“We will learn more about how APS professionals normalize what we see and how we can limit our trauma exposure.”
They talk about how feeling compassion fatigue from the work of APS can result in loss of hope, needing predictability on the non-client facing side of the work, lack of a sense of justice, and more. They provide many examples, offer explanations, and share support and guidance for both the individual provider and for supervisors.
Shielding Your Well-being: Moral Injury
Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency and Prevention
October 2022
“Professionals in the helping fields are more likely to be exposed to conduct, material, and circumstances that can lead to vicarious trauma. Individuals can be personally affected by the trauma of victims and others they witness and work with on a daily basis, which can impact them professionally and personally. This presentation discussed vicarious trauma and the effects of moral injury, and identified tools and techniques to mitigate the negative effects on individuals in the workplace and personal lives.”
Compassion Fatigue in Clinicians Working with Vulnerable Populations
SAMHSA
January 2025
“Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) shows promise for early psychosis care. This talk explores self-compassion for mental health professionals and those they serve. Learn techniques to navigate challenges and build resilience.”
Ways to revisit and strengthen our boundaries when the news is unavoidable and retraumatizing
NSVRC
February 2026
This short article from NSVRC offers suggestions for ways to engage with news that may be retriggering for survivors. Some suggestions include self-imposing time limits for news intake, planning grounding activities after intaking news, only engaging with news through trusted sources, and more.
Supporting Behavioral Health Providers: Creating Postvention Strategies for Healing After Losing a Client to Suicide
Suicide Prevention Resource Center
2025
These short videos (between 3-5 minutes) talk about the importance of giving yourself grace and honoring the life of the person who was lost. Each presenter is a provider who lost someone to suicide. The factsheet is particularly helpful as it talks about strategies for supporting the provider, creating a safe and responsive workspace, and more.
Moral Injury in Child Protection Workers
Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare
November 2019
This brief video (10 minutes) talks with three child protection workers at different stages in their career about their experiences with moral injury, how it looks, and offers ideas of practices to prevent or reduce moral injury.
Note: Although the context of child protection is different from advocacy, there are transferable ideas and situations expressed in this video that may be helpful for advocates to explore.
Paper to Practice: Vicarious Trauma
Research Consortium on Gender-based Violence
May 2022
Vicarious trauma is an inevitable challenge of being a crime victim advocate, but experiencing the negative effects of vicarious traumatization is treatable and preventable. Dr. Apryl Pooley reviews the latest vicarious trauma research and interviews Lisa Tieszen, co-founder of the organizational health agency Resilience Works, to help promote the well-being of all crime victim advocates.
Looking for more resources around provider wellbeing?
Looking for more resources around provider wellbeing?
Check out previous compilations of resources on the topic: