We are ALL messed up!! Vicarious traumatization is unique to police officers, social workers, and other crisis workers because of their frequent contact with human suffering, especially when dealing with children. Multidisciplinary child abuse members routinely must respond to situations where they are exposed to the worst of people and the worst of what people do to each other. The psychological impact of such incidents is referred to as vicarious traumatization. This workshop will provide participants with knowledge of how they can be more aware from the outset of their careers of the high risk for and the characteristics of traumatization, as well as the kinds of assistance available to them. Participants will be given simple but effective ways of constructive prevention and coping strategies to help them throughout their career as well as into retirement.
Learning Objectives:
Define and recognize vicarious trauma as well as compassion fatigue and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Participants will understand the risk factors for compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, and burnout.
Learning how to recognize the early signs of vicarious trauma.
Participants will share and discuss a variety of self-care strategies to develop their own Wellness and Resiliency Plans.
