How is exposure to trauma affecting you and your employees?
There is a way of minimising the adverse effects trauma workers are exposed to - start by acknowledging "vicarious trauma".
Is it possible to work with victims of vicious assaults, or to witness the aftermath of bloody attacks or serious road accidents, day in and day out, and remain emotionally unaffected? According to Jacqueline Burke, Clinical Manager at the New South Wales Rape Crisis Centre, the answer is no. The emotional effect has a name, ‘vicarious trauma’ (VT), and the real question is, to what extent are people exposed to traumatic inci...
Published 14 June, 2009