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Hi @NikNik and thanks for taking part in today's forum about vicarious trauma.
First a story ...
I was speaking with a young guy yesterday about his future career options, he commented with an exasperated look, "I could never do what you do, I'd get too involved with my clients, I'd take my client's problems home with me ... I'd want to fix them"
I thought about that and thought; no, I don't do that instead I journal, see a supervisor, meditate and have a creative outlet ... I try very hard to look after myself so that I'm not overly affected by my client's stories, and it helps.
As a counsellor I have to do those things because I work directly with people either in trauma or in 'story' about trauma.
Come to think of it all people in the helping industries do this - work with traumatic stories, if not the traumatic events themselves.
Some to a greater extent than others, for some it's colleague's stories that bring the trauma into the office ... That is also secondary exposure to trauma.
Even reading about trauma constantly still counts as exposure to trauma.
Ironically even the young man I was speaking to works with clients who have traumatic stories ... He's an employment consultant for the disability sector so although it's not obvious how he is exposed to trauma, he is - his clients are only too willing to share their life stories (often traumatic) with a friendly, helpful young man such as he.
Unfortunately he's one of the many who doesn't realise he's being exposed to secondhand trauma ... But we'll talk more about that later ....
So, what to make of all this? Is it true that all these people potentially take their work home with them (unwittingly sometimes)? And unless they are aware of it - do they really all become overly connected to their client's stories and maybe suffer for it?
According to research the answer is yes a very high proportion do - around 80% of helpers in fact, in some form or another suffer from secondary trauma syndrome ...
A pretty staggering number isn't it?
This type of trauma may be known as vicarious trauma or compassion fatigue or burnout ... To some degree the different words measure the grade to which you are affected (vicariously being the worst it seems).
Today's forum is about this phenomenon.
I will be discussing that the research shows it's seriously under reported but over represented amongst the helping professions ... many don't even know they have it.
How can you tell if you have some version of secondary trauma?
I'll go into more detail later but briefly ...
Unexplained anxiety, sleeplessness, flashbacks, depression, feeling of wanting to give up on the work ... Change in your world view (everything is bleak)
Those are just some of the signs and symptoms that may be related to secondary trauma...
Do any of these resonate with you? Have they become apparent since you began working in the helping sector? Do you know of anyone who may be affected?
I would love to hear from you today, this is an important issue that should be more openly discussed ....
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