Articles to download

This is a two page self awareness check-in for helpers. It was written by Dr Lee Lipp, a San Francisco-based psychologist (www.leelipp.com) who gave me permission to share it with you. Why not print it out and post it on your desk, somewhere visible? Click here to download.

The Headington Institute has developed a free self-study guide on vicarious trauma. The Headington Institute’s mandate is to support aid workers across the globe, but the study guide is helpful and relevant to nearly all helpers. This is a great resource! Check it out by clicking here.

Green Cross Academy of Traumatology – to view the standards of self care guidelines, please click here.

Voici une liste de ressources en français sur l’usure de compassion et le traumatisme vicariant. J’offre ici la pdf de l’excellent article de Jan Richardson “Guide sur le Traumatisme Vicariant” dans son intégralité car il est très difficile à obtenir en ligne (et n’est plus disponible par le biais du centre national d’information de violence dans la famille, pour une raison que j’ignore, car c’est un document exceptionnel). J’inclus également le dossier 2007 de la CSST sur le traumatisme vicariant.

Si vous avez de bonnes ressources en francais, n’hésitez-pas à me les envoyer et je les rajouterai à la liste Read more ›

By Françoise Mathieu, 2008

“Helpers who bear witness to many stories of abuse and violence notice that their own beliefs about the world are altered and possibly damaged by being repeatedly exposed to traumatic material.” (Pearlman et al, 1995)

After a difficult session….
Are you sliming your colleagues? Are you being slimed? Can you still be properly debriefed if you don’t give all the graphic details of the trauma story you have just heard from a client? Would you like to have a strategy to gently prevent your colleagues from telling you too much information about their trauma exposure?
When helpers hear and see difficult things in the course of their work, the most normal reaction in the world is to want to debrief with someone, to alleviate a little bit of the burden that they are carrying. It is healthy to turn to others for support and validation. The problem is that we are often not doing it properly. The problem is also that colleagues don’t always ask us for permission before debriefing their stories with us.

To read more: click here for pdf.

Transforming Compassion Fatigue into Compassion Satisfaction: article by Françoise Mathieu.

Click here to download pdf.

Originally published in Rehab and Community Care Medicine, Spring 2007.

The expectation that we can be immersed in suffering and loss daily and not be touched by it is as unrealistic as expecting to be able to walk through water without getting wet” (Remen, 1996)

What is compassion fatigue?

Our primary task as helping professionals is first and foremost to meet the physical and/or emotional needs of our clients and patients. This can be an immensely rewarding experience, and the daily contact with patients is what keeps many of us working in this field. It is a Calling, a highly specialized type of work that is unlike any other profession. However, this highly specialised rewarding profession can also look like this: Increasingly stressful work environments, heavy case loads and dwindling resources, cynicism and negativity from co-workers, low job satisfaction and, for some, the risk of being physically assaulted by patients. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Written in 2007. Click here to view article