New Videos on Vicarious Trauma launch on Paper to Practice
VIDEO: Dr. Apryl Pooley reviews the latest vicarious trauma research and interviews Lisa Tieszen, founder of the organizational health agency Resilience Works, to help…
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While advocating for victims of crime is rewarding and meaningful work, many advocates experience challenges related to job stress and trauma exposure. Working with people who have experienced trauma and injustice can be overwhelming. Over half of all victim advocates experience severe traumatic stress symptoms and high levels of compassion fatigue (et al., 2018; Conrad and Kellar-Guenther, 2006) and 1-in-6 meet the PTSD diagnostic criteria from vicarious exposure to trauma (Bride, 2007). Experiencing these effects does not mean an advocate is weak or has failed, it just means that they need some more resources to help them cope with the difficult nature of the work they do.
What is vicarious trauma, burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary traumatic stress?
When advocates work with people who have experienced traumatic events, they are exposed to indirect trauma (I.e. because the advocate didn’t experience the initial trauma themselves) and can experience some of the same effects of the trauma as their clients. Compassion fatigue or secondary traumatic stress or vicarious trauma (terms often used interchangeably) can be accompanied by feelings of fear or sadness, with symptoms that can look almost identical to PTSD but arise from witnessing traumatic stress in others. Vicarious trauma is a risk factor for burnout, which is a process that occurs because of excessive or prolonged levels of job stress, leading to emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a reduced sense of personal accomplishment.
The good news is that with proper support, advocates can experience compassion satisfaction and vicarious resilience, which can help mitigate the effects of burnout and compassion fatigue. Compassion satisfaction results in fulfillment from helping others and positive collegial relationships, and vicarious resilience involves the process of learning about overcoming adversity from the trauma survivor and the resulting positive transformation and empowerment through their empathy and interaction. The resources here can help advocates cope with burnout, compassion fatigue, and secondary trauma using individual self-care practices, advocate peer support, and organizational support.
If you’re wondering if what you’re feeling could be the result of vicarious trauma, you can start by asking yourself these four questions (Joyful Heart Foundation) or by completing the Professional Quality of Life Scale:
Overview of vicarious trauma effects and individual, peer, and organizational prevention and support tips:
Feeling Heavy: vicarious trauma and other issues facing those who work in the sexual assault field by Zoe Morrison (2007)
Heal the Healers: trauma workers share their thoughts on staying well while caring for those in crisis from the Joyful Heart Foundation’s Reunion magazine (2015)
Vicarious Trauma and Its Impact on Advocates, Therapists, and Friends from the Research and Advocacy Digest (2004)
Vicarious Trauma Toolkit from the US Office for Victims of Crime
Secondary Traumatic Stress resources from the National Child Traumatic Stress Network
Guidebook on Vicarious Trauma: Recommended Solutions for Anti-Violence Workers
Developing Your Self-Care Plan (University at Buffalo School of Social Work)
Advocate-Client Boundaries (AVALON Center)
Free guided mindfulness meditations (UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center)
21-day self-care challenge (Move to End Violence–to participate in a live challenge beginning the first Tuesday of every month, sign up here)
Real Life Resilience: Doing Storywork with Your Past
We are all storied people. Rachel Anne Clinton helps us understand why discovering the stories that have shaped our past benefits our present and our future. Linked to Spotify, but available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or wherever you get your podcasts. [30 minutes]
Vicarious Trauma Organizational Readiness Guide (US Office for Victims of Crime)
Self-Care for Advocates: This Facebook group provides a safe, feminist space for anti-violence advocates to support each other by sharing self-care strategies.
Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky and Connie Burk (2009)
Help for the Helper: The Psychophysiology of Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Trauma by Babette Rothschild and Marjorie Rand (2006)
VIDEO: Dr. Apryl Pooley reviews the latest vicarious trauma research and interviews Lisa Tieszen, founder of the organizational health agency Resilience Works, to help…
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“This session will provide an overview of OVC TTAC’s engagement with communities across the United States in developing and sustaining vicarious trauma peer-to-peer collaboratives.”
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In this skill-building webinar, Women’s Advocates discuss integrating and implementing personal and professional boundaries while showcasing examples of how to do just that.
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“This webinar will offer strategies for dealing with daily work related stress, will increase awareness of the issue of vicarious trauma, and will provide…
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“The VTT includes tools and resources tailored specifically to these fields that provide the knowledge and skills necessary for organizations to address the vicarious trauma needs…
Unprecedented Times Call for Extraordinary Self-Care Measures April 10, 2020 This was posted originally on MCEDSV’s blog page “It’s hard. This space we’re…
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