This informal CPD article on Secondary trauma was provided by The T.H.I.N.K. Big Project, an organisation whose aim is to provide a range of products and services that improve communities and services for young people.
Secondary trauma can occur when an individual is exposed to individuals who have subjected to trauma themselves. This can be caused by consistently hearing disturbing descriptions of traumatic events by a survivor, or others inflicting cruelty on one another. Symptoms of secondary trauma are similar to those of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Secondary trauma is common in support roles that support vulnerable individuals. This may be social workers, pastoral staff etc.
What is the impact of secondary trauma?
The impact of secondary trauma can vary, and signs may not show straight away. There are three ways an individual can be impacted by secondary trauma they are physical, behavioural and emotional/psychological and each have a variety of signs.
Three types of signs physical, behavioural and Emotional / Psychological Signs
Physical Signs
- Exhaustion
- Insomnia
- Headaches
- Increased susceptibility to illness
- Sore back and neck
- Rashes, breakouts
- Grinding your teeth at night
- Heart palpitations
- Hypochondria
Behavioural Signs
- Increased use of alcohol and drugs
- Anger and Irritability at home and/or at work
- Avoidance of clients/patients
- Watching excessive amounts of TV at night
- Not returning phone calls at work and/or at home
- Avoiding social events
- Impaired ability to make decisions
- Feeling helpless when hearing a difficult client story
- Impostor syndrome – feeling unskilled in your job
- Problems in personal relationships
- Difficulty with sex and intimacy due to trauma exposure at work
Emotional/Psychological Signs
- Emotional exhaustion also known as compassion fatigue.
- Negative self-image
- Depression
- Increased anxiety
- Difficulty sleeping
- Impaired appetite or binge eating
- Feelings of hopelessness
- Guilt
- Anger at work
- Resentment of demands being put on you at work and/or at home
- Diminished sense of enjoyment/career (i.e. low compassion satisfaction)
- Depersonalization – spacing out during work or the drive home
- Hypersensitivity to emotionally charged stimuli
- Insensitivity to emotional material/numbing
- Difficulty separating personal and professional lives
What can you do to minimise secondary trauma?
It all starts with being aware. A culture that is embedded in protecting well-being, forward thinking and understands that trauma is not about good, bad or indifferent professionals, secondary trauma is about the job you do and the impact of dealing with trauma every day. Strategies that help minimise secondary trauma can be found below.
1. Regular supervision – This is often carried out monthly. Being able to stop and offload is a vital area to ensure that professionals are not taking the workday home and impacting others.
2. Practice self-care – This maybe through meditation, exercise, eating healthy etc. Well-being should be embedded in the organisation to ensure that they are promoting well-being.
3. Well-being and resilience plans – This is something that could be done through CPD sessions or small meetings. This encourages well-being in an organisations culture it embeds practice and adds values to the values the organisation promotes.
4. Employee assistance programmes or counselling services where needed. If you have it use it. It is important that they are offloading to the right people.
The importance of Well-being
Well-being needs to be embedded in the culture of the organisation. In roles that require professionals to deal with daily trauma, how are they supported? Do they feel like they are supported enough? Questions are important, through questioning is where we become innovative in the approach.
Well-being is for all
It is important that well-being is for all. Part of breaking down stigmas start with becoming aware. How can you change something you are not aware off? Education is an area that we need to look at with most teachers not staying over five years and pastoral staff dealing with high levels of trauma. A question that could be asked is “If we can’t do this for our staff, how are we doing this for our young people?”
We hope this article was helpful. For more information from The T.H.I.N.K. Big Project please visit their CPD Member Directory page. Alternatively please visit the CPD Industry Hubs for more CPD articles, courses and events relevant to your Continuing Professional Development requirements.
