taking care of yourself while working with traumatized children and teens

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ITS A BALANCING ACT: TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF WHILE WORKING WITH TRAUMATIZED CHILDREN & TEENS NOVEMBER, 2014 Rachel Freeman, LCSW Sexual Assault Center

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Page 1: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

IT’S A BALANCING ACT: TAKING

CARE OF YOURSELF WHILE

WORKING WITH TRAUMATIZED

CHILDREN & TEENS

NOVEMBER, 2014

Rachel Freeman, LCSW

Sexual Assault Center

Page 2: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Image credit: http://rpreschern.wordpress.com/2014/03/01/a-balancing-act/

Page 4: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Professional Quality of Life

Compassion Fatigue

Burnout Secondary Trauma

Compassion Satisfaction

www.proqol.org

Page 5: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Helpless* Hopeless* Anger/Cynicism* Denial* Diminished Creativity* Minimizing* Guilt* Fear*

Physical/Emotional Drain* Depression* Loss of Idealism/Spirit* Feeling Alienated* Addiction* Inability to Empathize* Sense that One Can Never Do Enough*

Hypervigilant* Deliberate Avoidance* Dissociative Moments* Grandiosity* Sense of Persecution

Page 6: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Top 10 Signs You’re a Tired Helper

10. Feeling Helpless, Hopeless or Not Good Enough

Am I making an impact? What’s the point? Am I good

enough, smart enough, strong enough?

9. Hypervigilance / Fear

Always being “on”; unrealistic and realistic fears of the

dangers we have been exposed to

8. Diminished Creativity

Loss of energy or desire to be creative, inside and

outside of work

Page 7: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Top 10 Signs continued

7. Minimizing/Persecution/Grandiosity

My work is harder than yours; martyrdom

6. Chronic Exhaustion

Is fatigue an accepted aspect of your work or part of

the workplace culture?

5. Avoidance / Inability to Listen

Turning phone off; too full or too busy to listen any

more?

4. Anger

What does your anger look like? Can become cynical

Page 8: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Top 10 Signs continued

3. Dissociation / Numbing / Desensitization

Difficulty staying present personally or professionally?

Difficulty regulating emotion? Feeling overly

desensitized?

2. Guilt

Feeling guilt over your own successes professionally or

your own personal pleasures

1. Habits in Excess

Page 9: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Burnout

Role ambiguity and role conflict

Tension between personal and professional values

and organizational demands

Bureaucratic constraints on individualization of

consumer services

Lack of service provider autonomy

Inadequate funding

Large caseloads

Excessive paperwork

Concern for the bottom line

Page 10: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Burnout Symptoms

Emotional and/or physical exhaustion

Excessive negative thoughts, especially about job

Irritated or frustrated easily by small problems or

co-workers

Decreased feelings of sympathy

Feeling alone

Feeling unreasonable pressure to succeed

Loss of meaning

Page 11: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

The path to tranquility:

“In dealing with those who are

undergoing great suffering, if

you feel ‘burn-out’ setting in, if

you feel demoralized and

exhausted, it is best, for the sake

of everyone, to withdraw and

restore yourself. The point is to

have a long-term perspective”. –

Dalai Lama

Page 12: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Image credit: www.lifehack.org

Page 13: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Compassion Satisfaction

The Positive Aspects of Healing/Helping

Pleasure and satisfaction derived from working in

helping, care-giving systems

Healing Involvement

May be related to

Providing care

The system

Work and colleagues

Beliefs about self

Altruism

Page 14: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Compassion Satisfaction

When employees experience Compassion

Satisfaction:

Absentee rates are lower

Employees are more productive

Organizational health care costs are lower

Greater physical and mental health of employees

Staff retention rates are higher

Happy and satisfied employees

Quality of services can be greater

Increased employee pride, trust and commitment

Page 15: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

So…What are you

willing to do?

Page 17: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

“We cannot hold a

torch to light another’s path without

brightening our own.” ~Ben Sweetland

Page 18: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Daily Practice of Caring for Self

Self-care Board

Start a collection of self-care ideas at the office

Creating realistic opportunities

What are you REALLY willing to do?

Creating spaciousness

What are you grateful for?

Make a list

Awareness of triggers

What are your triggers? Have you identified them?

Reframe your response to triggers

Page 19: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Daily Practice of Caring for Self

Attachment

Who are your support people? Who takes care of you?

What’s on your plate? What are the demands in your life? Be detailed.

Cultivation of Plan B

What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this job? What do you dream about?

Reminders of life outside of work

Pictures of family, nature, favorite artwork, etc.

Page 20: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Daily Practice of Caring for Self

Leave work at work

Know that it’s okay to do this

Know you are not alone

You aren’t! Look around the room

Assess your trauma inputs

Where all are you being impacted by trauma throughout your daily routine?

Exercise

Set realistic goals around physical activity

Page 21: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Daily Practice of Caring for Self

Importance of celebrating

Recognize and celebrate successes

Take a break

Take a deep breath. Feel your body.

Constantly refill your love bucket

In order to give to others, you have to take care of yourself

Page 22: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Best Practice Recommendations

“There must be a recognition that the duty to perform

as a helper cannot be fulfilled if there is not, at the

same time, a duty to self-care.” Green Cross Academy of Traumatology

It is unethical for helpers NOT to focus on self-care

Sufficient self-care prevents us from harming those we

serve

Helpers require standards of self-care

Necessary to make teaching about CF, VT and Trauma

Exposure responses a priority for social service

organizations

Page 23: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Agency-Wide Self-Care

Self-Care Standards

Set Policies around staffing difficult cases, debriefing, etc.

Set guidelines and limits around workload

Focus on the positive transformations in our clients

Encourage employees to take adequate sick/vacation time

Validate, normalize, and then respond to CF or VT

Page 24: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Agency-Wide Self-Care cont.

Supervision for everyone

Appropriate boundaries as policy

Good health care plans with good mental health benefits/coverage

Professional development funds and time

Agency-wide fun activities

Provide specific training to helpers on CF, VT, Trauma Exposure Responses AND Self-Care

Multi-Level Leadership support

Communication of Wellness Program / Self-Care Standards

Page 25: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

“There is great power in

understanding that we can

change the way we interact

with circumstances in our

lives simply by being

intentional about where we

put our focus.” ~Laura van

Dernoot Lipsky,

Trauma Stewardship, p.175

Page 26: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Just Remember…

It’s okay to put yourself first sometimes

It’s okay to make mistakes

It’s okay to negotiate for change

It’s okay to ask for clarification

It’s okay to ask for help or emotional support

It’s normal and okay to feel and express emotions

You deserve to receive recognition for your work and achievements

It’s okay to say “no” Taken from The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook by M.Davis, M.McKay & E.R.Eshelman

Page 27: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Image credit: www.fivecamels.blogspot.com

Page 28: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Love yourself first, and

everything else falls in

line. You really have to

love yourself to get

anything done in this

world.

~Lucille Ball

Page 29: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

“Love doesn’t require that you

ignore or suppress negativity.

It simply requires that some

element of kindness, empathy

or appreciation be added to

the mix. Compassion is the

form love takes when

suffering occurs.”

~Barbara Fredrickson

Page 30: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

There is no need to go to

India or anywhere else to

find peace. You will find

that deep place of silence

right in your room, your

garden or even your

bathtub.

~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

Page 31: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

“It is one of the most

beautiful compensations

of life, that no man can

sincerely try to help

another without helping

himself.” ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Page 32: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Contact Information

Sexual Assault Center

101 French Landing Drive

Nashville, TN 37228

www.sacenter.org

615-259-9055 ext. 338

Rachel Freeman, LCSW, [email protected]

Page 33: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Bibliography and Resources

Babbel, S. (2008). Compassion Fatigue: The bodily symptoms of empathy.

The Journal of the San Francisco Medical Society. 81(5).

Berry, L.L, Mirabito, A.M. & Baun, W.B. (2010). What’s the Hard Return

on Employee Wellness Programs? Harvard Business Review.

Davis, M., et. al. (2008). The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook.

Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

Duncan, B. (2011). What therapists want. Psychotherapy Networker. 35(3),

40-47.

Elwood, L.S., Mott, J., Lohr, J.M. & Galovski, T.E. (2010). Secondary

trauma symptoms in clinicians: A critical review of the construct,

specificity, and implications for trauma-focused treatment. Clinical

Psychology Review. 31, 25-36.

Figley, C.R. (2004). Compassion Fatigue Educator Course Workbook.

Florida State University and the Green Cross Foundation.

http://www.gbgm-umc.org/shdis/CFEWorkbook_V2.pdf

Page 34: Taking Care of Yourself While Working With Traumatized Children and Teens

Bibliography and Resources

Green Cross Academy of Traumatology. Standards of Self Care.

http://www.greencross.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=artic

le&id=184&Itemid=124

McKay, M. & Sutker, C. (2007). Leave Your Mind Behind: The

everyday practice of finding stillness amid rushing thoughts.

Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications, Inc.

Lipsky, L.V. (2009). Trauma Stewardship: An everyday guide to caring

for self while caring for others. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler

Publishers, Inc.

U.S. Department of Justice. Strategies for Preventing Compassion

Fatigue and Burnout. Sexual Assault Advocate/Counselor Training.

https://www.ovcttac.gov/saact/files/prev_comp_fatg.pdf

Zellmer, D.D. Teaching to Prevent Burnout in the Helping Professions.

Analytic Teaching. 24(1), 20-25.