Vicarious Trauma
A "Paper to Practice" Series
Vicarious trauma is an inevitable challenge of being a crime victim advocate, but experiencing the negative effects of vicarious traumatization is treatable and preventable.
Dr. Apryl Pooley reviews the latest vicarious trauma research and interviews Lisa Tieszen, co-founder of the organizational health agency Resilience Works, to help promote the well-being of all crime victim advocates.
Episode 1:
What is Vicarious Trauma?
A brief history on research related to vicarious trauma in victim advocacy and how to support advocates experiencing vicarious traumatization.
Episode 2:
Vicarious Trauma in Advocacy
We talk with Lisa Tieszen about her research on vicarious trauma in child protection workers and on developing the Vicarious Trauma Toolkit.
Series Materials
The Vicarious Trauma Toolkit was developed on the premise that exposure to the traumatic experiences of other people—known as vicarious trauma—is an inevitable occupational challenge for the fields of victim services, emergency medical services, fire services, law enforcement, and other allied professionals; however, organizations can mitigate the potentially negative effects of trauma exposure by becoming vicarious trauma-informed. This toolkit includes tools and resources tailored specifically to these fields that provide the knowledge and skills necessary for organizations to address the vicarious trauma needs of their staff. Below are some great places to start in the toolkit:
- https://ovc.ojp.gov/program/vtt/what-is-vicarious-trauma#vtt-model
- Human Resource Guidelines for a Vicarious Trauma-Informed Organization
- Supervision Guidelines for a Vicarious Trauma-Informed Organization
- Employee and Volunteer Assistance Program Guidelines For a Vicarious Trauma-Informed Organization
- Peer Support Guidelines for a Vicarious Trauma-Informed Organization
Family Support Guidelines for a Vicarious Trauma-Informed Organization
Advocacy Education and Support Project: Advocates with a Personal History of Violence or Trauma
This 8-session curriculum offers self-care and organizational strategies for advocates with a personal trauma history that organizations can use in-house to respond to the needs of advocates. Sessions include defining terms and understanding secondary traumatic stress, self-assessments of strengths and vulnerabilities, developing professional identity and personal boundaries, and more.
A Gecko’s Guide to Building Resiliency in Child Abuse Staff & Volunteers
The OVC Resiliency Project engaged researchers, educators, and practitioners from the child abuse field in a collaborative effort to develop, implement, and evaluate an organizationally based program to build resiliency in staff and volunteers. Twelve service organizations participated in the project. Key to the project were the pilot “resiliency coaches” who evaluated all training and technical assistance products related to the organizational program model. The model identified 5 key themes- self-knowledge and insight, sense of hope, healthy coping, strong relationships, and personal perspective and meaning– that can be promoted in the culture of organizations. Evaluation was conducted by the Institute on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (IDVSA) at the University of Texas School of Social Work. This guide is a summary report of the project. (2014)
Resources for Advocate Resilience
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.
A program, organization, or system that is trauma-informed recognizes the widespread impact of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others involved with the system and understands potential paths for recovery. Trauma-informed advocacy fully integrates knowledge about trauma in policies, procedures, and practices and seeks to actively resist re-traumatization.
The following research articles were referenced in the series:
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders 5th ed. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596
Baird, S., & Jenkins, S. R. (2003). Vicarious traumatization, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout in sexual assault and domestic violence agency staff. Violence and Victims, 18(1), 71–87.
Benuto LT, Newlands R, Ruork A, Hooft S, Ahrendt A. (2018). Secondary traumatic stress among victim advocates: Prevalence and correlates. Journal of Evidence-Informed Social Work, 15(5), 494–509.
Cayir E, Spencer M, Billings D, Messias DKH, Robillard A, Cunningham T. (2021). “The Only Way We’ll Be Successful”: Organizational factors that influence psychosocial well-being and self-care among advocates working to address gender-based violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(23–24), 11327–1135.
Figley, C. R. (Ed.). (1995). Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized. New York: Brunner Mazel.
Fontin FMB, Pino EC, Hang J, Dugan E, Fontin FMB, Pino EC, et al. (2021). Compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue among violence intervention caseworkers. Journal of Social Service Research, 47(4), 486–95. https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2020.1839628
Frey LL, Beesley D, Abbott D, Kendrick E. (2017). Vicarious resilience in sexual assault and domestic violence advocates. Psychological Trauma Theory Research Practice and Policy, 9(1), 44–51.
McCann, L., & Pearlman, L. A. (1990). Vicarious traumatization: A framework for understanding the psychological effects of working with victims. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 3,131-149.
Molnar BE, Meeker SA, Manners K, Tieszen L, Kalergis K, Fine JE, et al. (2020). Vicarious traumatization among child welfare and child protection professionals: A systematic review. Child Abuse And Neglect, 110(P3):104679.
Pearlman, L. A., & MacIan, P. S. (1995). Vicarious traumatization: An empirical study of the effects of trauma work on trauma therapists. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 26, 558-565.
B. H. Stamm (Ed.). (1999). Secondary traumatic stress: Self-care issues for clinicians, researchers, and educators, 2nd ed., 65-79. Lutherville, MD: Sidran.
Schauben, L. J., & Frazier, P. A. (1995). Vicarious trauma: The effects on female counselors of working with sexual violence survivors. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 19, 49-64
Slattery, S. M., & Goodman, L. A. (2009). Secondary traumatic stress among domestic violence advocates: Workplace risk and protective factors. Violence Against Women, 15(11), 1358–1379.
Wasco, S. M., & Campbell, R. (2002). A multiple case study of rape victim advocates’ self-care routines: The influence of organizational context. American Journal of Community Psychology, 30(5), 731–760.
Wilson JM, Goodman LA. (2021). “A Community of Survivors”: A grounded theory of organizational support for survivor-advocates in domestic violence agencies. Violence Against Women, 27(1), 2664–86.
Log in or create an account at MiVAN.org to access these trainings:
Help for the Helpers: Vicarious Trauma, Burnout, Compassion Fatigue, and Self-care
Victim advocates may experience vicarious trauma, burnout, or compassion fatigue at some point in their career, but experiencing these challenges is treatable and preventable. In this course, we will learn how to recognize when doing the work is starting to take a toll, how to get help, and useful individual and workplace practices for caring for ourselves and each other in this work.
This training series consists of short recorded lessons that review the basics of how trauma affects the brain and behavior with specific attention given to various stages of life and common life milestones.
This three-part webinar series serves as an introduction to intergenerational trauma and the impact of colonization and racialized trauma, and covers intergenerational epigenetics and neurobiological development, as well as interventions and approaches to nurturing resilience and collective care.
Working with children who have been harmed can be one of the more challenging aspects of being an advocate but also one of the most rewarding, as advocates can play such an important role in supporting children and their caregivers. In this course, we will discuss the prevalence and effects of sexual abuse & domestic violence on children, perpetrator tactics, how children experience and express their trauma, how to support non-offending caregivers, and how to promote the resiliency and healing of children.
Meet the Experts
Apryl Pooley is the Director of Training and Technical Assistance for the Michigan Victim Advocacy Network, a statewide project that supports crime victim advocates by offering trauma-informed training, networking opportunities, and other tools for working with victims/survivors.
Lisa Tieszen
Lisa Tieszen, co-founder of Resilience Works, is an advocate and clinician whose expertise focuses on working with trauma-exposed teams and organizations across the country.