About this course

Learning Objectives

• Define vicarious trauma.
• Identify symptoms of vicarious trauma.
• Differentiate symptoms of vicarious trauma from other symptoms commonly experienced by mental health clinicians.
• Identify the tangible impact of vicarious trauma on the professional and the organization.
• Identify ways to reduce vicarious trauma at the individual and organizational level.

Learning Levels

• All levels.

Target Audience

Course Instructor(s)

• 

  Brooke Bartlett, Ph.D.

  Owner, Center for Trauma, Anxiety, and Stress Inc.

  Brooke Bartlett, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist and the owner of Center for Trauma, Anxiety, and Stress Inc. (CTAS). In addition to being a trauma specialist, Dr. Bartlett spent the entirety of her 10+ years of doctoral training in the therapy room and out in the field specializing in improving the mental health of first responders, military members, and trauma-exposed civilians. She also has an extensive research history examining traumatic stress and associated correlates with dozens of presentations at national and international conferences, over 20 publications in scientific journals, and a published book chapter. She is immensely passionate about empowering others through strength and resilience, and she has dedicated her professional efforts to doing just that. She opened CTAS with the mission of improving wellness for all by providing a range of culturally competent, effective, and scientifically backed services.

Disclosure

References

• American Psychiatric Association: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth edition, Text Revision. Washington D.C., American Psychiatric Association, 2022.
• Aparicio, E., Michalopoulos, L. M., & Unick, G. J. (2013). An examination of the psychometric properties of the Vicarious Trauma Scale in a sample of licensed social workers. Health and Social Work, 38, 199–206. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/hsw/hlt017.
• Bell, H., Kulkarni, S., & Dalton, L. (2003). Organizational prevention of vicarious trauma. Families in society, 84(4), 463-470.
• Branson, D. C. (2019). Vicarious trauma, themes in research, and terminology: A review of literature. Traumatology, 25(1), 2-10. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000161.
• Figley, C. R. (Ed.), (1995). Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized. New York, NY: Brummer/Mazel.
• Hayes, M. W. (2013). The challenge of burnout: An ethical perspective. Annals of Psychotherapy and Integrative Health, 16, 20–25
• McCann, I. L., & Pearlman, L. A. (1990). Vicarious trauma: A framework for understanding the psychological effects of working with victims. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 3, 131–149. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00975140.
• Possick, C., Waisbrod, N., & Buchbinder, E. (2015). The dialectic chaos and control in the experience of therapists who work with sexually abused children. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 24, 816–836. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10538712.2015.1057667.
• van der Merwe, A., & Hunt, X. (2019). Secondary trauma among trauma researchers: Lessons from the field. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 11(1), 10–18. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0000414.
• Leung, T., Schmidt, F., & Mushquash, C. (2023). A personal history of trauma and experience of secondary traumatic stress, vicarious trauma, and burnout in mental health workers: A systematic literature review. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy, 15(Suppl 2), S213–S221. https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001277