(Trauma and Vicarious Trauma Awareness Workshop)“When we are impacted by trauma, we may feel chained, restricted, fragmented, subdued, and penned in by unmoveable obstacles. The process of Post-Traumatic Growth can free us from those chains.”
(FD Consultants) The image of an elephant, in its original habitat, roaming through the Kruger Park, South Africa, is imprinted on my mind today; watching the magnificent stillness, at sunset and sunrise, as the red blanket radiates over the landscape. I have also witnessed elephants in India during festival times, although equally magnificent creatures, this was a harder observation, as the elephants had large chains around their ankles and had become subdued to the loud bangs of celebration all around them. In Hinduism, Ganesha, one of the most worshipped Gods, is easily recognised by his elephant’s head. Ganesha is characterised as the remover of obstacles. The large elephant headed deity, removing that which is negative in its path. When we are impacted by trauma, we may feel chained, restricted, fragmented, subdued, and penned in by unmoveable obstacles. There is a great deal of research now that shows when we recover from trauma, we can experience post traumatic growth. My book “Psychosocial Support for Humanitarian Aid Workers: A Roadmap of Trauma and Critical Incident Care” (Dunkley, 2018), is full of case studies of aid workers who have suffered acute stress, burnout or Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The last chapter focuses on each and every one of these stories and describes a process of ‘post traumatic growth’, where many of these individuals have gone on to use their experiences to help others. My own story of post traumatic growth is described in my book, and perhaps is the main reason my work specialises in trauma care. I am able to sit in the most uncomfortable places and hold hope that each individual will recover. I strongly believe everyone can recover from trauma with specialist support. Unfortunately, there are many therapists that state they work with trauma but are not specialists. The risk is that someone’s recovery of maybe six sessions, develops into years of talking therapy. Many of our associates at FD Consultants offer EMDR and TF-CBT trauma therapy (as recommended by WHO, APA and NICE). At FD Consultants we offer a half-day ‘Trauma and Vicarious Trauma Workshop’. Staff that are identified in ‘high risk’ roles, possibly through the location or intensity of their work, or the risk of being exposed to traumatic material, whether directly or indirectly, would benefit from this workshop. It is a more in-depth look at the neuroscience of trauma, physiology, symptoms and building resources, than our stress management workshop. There are many myths and misunderstanding about how to best treat individuals who are traumatised. There is also a great risk of re-traumatising someone, who is suffering from trauma symptoms, without the knowledge from this workshop. Therefore, this workshop is also helpful for managers supporting staff who may be suffering trauma or vicarious trauma, and staff who have been impacted by a critical incident. Over the last few years at FD Consultants we have supported staff who have experienced sexual violence, hostage and kidnapping, civil unrest, assault, bullying and harassment, road traffic accidents, natural disasters, death of colleagues, and the impact of organisational restructuring. We have supported organisations’ whose staff have been impacted by the Ethiopian plane crash, conflict in Yemen and Syria, earthquakes in Indonesia, floods in India, the Persian Gulf crisis, further Ebola outbreaks, and the Myanmar Rohingya refugee crisis. Last year, due to Coronavirus, we created a series of workshops and services for organisations to specifically take care of their staff through this unprecedented and challenging time. But not only do we, as FD Consultants, recognise the direct impact of trauma, we also make sure organisations do not overlook the corrosive impact of vicarious trauma, sometimes known as secondary trauma. Research states that by listening to stories of trauma, we can start to be impacted by trauma symptoms, especially if we are empathic or intuitive, as our mirror neurones start to fire in the same way as the person telling us the story. Listening to the media or reading traumatic material can impact us vicariously. Organisations do not necessarily know what lies in someone’s past and whether they may have a deep-rooted trauma that can be triggered by the work they do. We have carried out psychological debriefings for staff who completed research on human rights issues, such as torture, false imprisonment, sexual violence or suicide. We support researchers, journalists, IT social media analysts, and legal staff. We have also helped frontline staff, such as reception staff, who may experience direct threat in the office, or indirect threat through social media or email. For one large international NGO (non-governmental organisation), we have started facilitating ‘threat communication’ workshops alongside security consultants, as personal and organisational threat is significantly increasing on social media. If you want to find out more about our workshops, please email [email protected]. If you are working in an environment where there is risk of being exposed to traumatic material, or you are managing staff that are at risk, please become trauma informed. Fiona Dunkley (Founder of FD Consultants) For organisations looking for employee psychological support, FD Consultants are the trauma specialists and well-being service who will best deliver a reliable, quick, and bespoke support system in the workplace. FD Consultant’s team of accredited specialists will offer ongoing support to help manage stress, prevent burnout and provide specialist trauma care where required, enabling your staff with the tools to cope, and recover more quickly.
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