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Caring for the carers – protecting against vicarious trauma

Caring for the carers – protecting against vicarious trauma. Nicky Paris Counselling Service Lead St Mary ’ s Centre. Objectives. What is vicarious trauma? Common signs Susceptibility Organisational perspective Personal perspective Exploration of how my work impacts me

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Caring for the carers – protecting against vicarious trauma

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  1. Caring for the carers – protecting against vicarious trauma Nicky Paris Counselling Service Lead St Mary’s Centre

  2. Objectives • What is vicarious trauma? • Common signs • Susceptibility • Organisational perspective • Personal perspective • Exploration of how my work impacts me • Explore what I do to care for myself • What can I do?

  3. What is vicarious trauma? • ‘negative transformation of the self of the helper that come about as a result of empathic engagement with survivors’ trauma material and a sense of responsibility or commitment to help (McCann & Pearman, 1990, p132 in Sanderson, 2013) • A process of change resulting from empathic engagement with trauma survivors’ BMA 2015

  4. Common signs? • Lingering feelings of rage/anger about clients • Becoming overly involved emotionally • Experiencing bystander guilt, shame self-doubt • Preoccupied with thoughts of clients outside work • Over-identification with clients • Loss of hope, pessimism, cynicism • Distancing, numbing, detachment • Difficulty in maintaining professional boundaries with the client, overextending • Source: BMA, 2015

  5. Susceptibility Source: CAADA, 2007

  6. Organisational Perspective • Duty of care to staff and patients • Sickness • Absence • Stress management • Working as a team

  7. Personal perspective • How does your work impact you? • Discuss it on your table • Write down three ways in which you are impacted by your work that you would like to share

  8. Personal perspective • How do you deal with these impacts? • Discuss it on your table • Write down three ways in which you cope with your work that you can share with the group

  9. What Can we do? Maintaining physical health and fitness Using meditation or spiritual practice Clearly defined professional boundaries and limits Availability and use of social support Professional supervision or consultative support Balanced work/life balance

  10. How can we do it?

  11. Final thoughts • To be affected by what being exposed to others’ traumatic experiences is normal, part of the human experience. • There is growing awareness of vicarious posttraumatic growth – the effect does not have to be negative (Manning-Jones et al, 2015).

  12. References • British Medical Association (2015) http://www.bma.org.uk/working-for-change/international-affairs/doctors-against-torture/vicarious-trauma Retrieved January 2015 • CAADA, (2007) CAADA co-ordinated action against domestic abuse CAADA • Manning-Jones, S., de Terte, I., & Stephens, C. (2015). Vicarious posttraumatic growth: A systematic literature review. International Journal of Wellbeing, 5(2), 125-139. doi:10.5502/ijw.v5i2.8 • Sanderson, C., (2013) Counselling Skills for Working with Trauma. London: Jessica Kingsley

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