Trauma across the board - Part 3
Dear clients,
Trauma refers to any negative event that overwhelms a person's ability to cope with what is happening. Trauma affects people in different ways and each person will have their own way of processing what happened.
Trauma across the board highlights some of the main areas in which trauma exposure can occur. This blog will focus on the final area of trauma namely Trauma in the Helper.
Who is the "helper" and how are they exposed to trauma?
The "helper" describes any person actively working to assist the trauma survivor.
Secondary Traumatization - Where does it occur?
Anyone can experience secondary traumatization. It can occur in normal day-to-day interactions with others (family, friends, and strangers) or through work.
In normal day-to-day encounters, this might be like hearing about a friend talking about her miscarriage or hearing about the fatal accident that happened directly in front of your colleague on the way to work. In these instances, a person becomes traumatized by what they hear as well as the fact that it happened to someone they know. It is typical for people in these situations to feel overwhelmed by the thought of "it could have been me".
Usually, secondary traumatization in day-to-day encounters are quite rare and infrequent. In most cases, people may decide not to seek counseling for this, however, there is no shame in asking for help.
Secondary traumatization that occurs through work is slightly more complex. Unlike secondary traumatization in normal encounters, work trauma is difficult to escape since the nature of their job requires them to step into the traumatic situations daily.
Secondary traumatization is extremely prevalent in occupations such as counselors, psychologists, chaplains, police officers, paramedics, doctors, nurses, firefighters, traffic officers, armed response officers as well as other branches of the emergency services.
For example, imagine a crime scene where someone passed away. When emergency services arrive on the scene, they have to deal with the emotional impact of the trauma narrative of the victim's family when they establish what happened. They are also exposed to the visual images of the deceased and other elements of the crime scene. The trauma exposure is worsened by the smells associated with the scene (i.e. the smell of blood) and the actions that the first responders need to take on the scene. A person who physically touches the deceased may experience more trauma symptoms than a person who merely sees the body from a distance. (Although this is not always the case.)
Trauma is always treated on scene, however, it can also be treated away from the scene in places such as hospitals, counseling practices, churches, etc. This is where non-first responders are exposed to secondary traumatization. For example, a counselor who assists a family after a divorce, a chaplain who supports a couple whose child drowned earlier in the day, or a pastor who was called to pray for a person with terminal illness.
Trauma is trauma, no matter where you are exposed to it. You do not have to go through it yourself to be affected by trauma and there is no shame in admitting that you are struggling with this. People are not robots - we were created to empathize with others.
Is it true that first responders and other professionals who work with trauma are less affected by it than the rest of us?
Absolutely not. First responders and other professionals who deal with trauma on a daily basis are human first, which means that it impacts them in the same way that it impacts others. The only difference is that they've learned how to compartmentalize (box it up) the trauma and to put on a brave face in front of others. They fall apart when no one is looking.
Although trauma can be categorized into different groups, it is clear that trauma in one area will inevitably result in changes across the board.
Be blessed,
Madeleine