Safeguarding Yourself – Recognising and Responding to Vicarious Trauma – Blue Knot Foundation

This one day interactive professional development training explores the nature of vicarious trauma, burnout and compassion fatigue, and supports you to keep healthy and safe in your work with people impacted by trauma.

Just as post-traumatic stress disorder can be perceived as a normal reaction to an abnormal event, so too can vicarious trauma (VT) be seen as a normal reaction to repeated exposure to traumatic stories and material. One might say – an ‘occupational hazard’ for those working  across diverse sectors, including health, housing, mental health and family services, with traumatized clients.

By attending this training you’ll be equipped with the knowledge, skills, tools and insights to better recognise the early signs of vicarious trauma, understand its dimensions, dynamics and risks, engage a range of protective factors to minimise the risks and, most importantly, embrace possibilities for post-traumatic growth and vicarious resilience.

At the session’s completion participants will be better able to:

• Define and differentiate between the various forms of trauma
• Define vicarious trauma and demonstrate knowledge of its protective factors and risks
• Recognise the importance of one’s own subjective experience including transference and countertransference
• Demonstrate skills to reflect on post traumatic growth and vicarious resilience
• Identify the physical, emotional, cognitive, behavioural & attitudinal impacts of vicarious trauma
• Recognise the importance of quality supervision and self-care
• Take home tools to create a personal wellness plan.

Material presented in the training will be comprehensive, and will draw on the research based on the Blue Knot Foundation’s Practice Guidelines for Treatment of Complex Trauma and Trauma Informed Care and Service Delivery www.blueknot.org.au/guidelines