Monthly theme

Each month Connect focuses on a specific area that professionals tell us they want to explore in more detail.

June's theme: Protecting staff wellbeing when working with traumatised children and young people

Throughout June, we're exploring how to protect staff wellbeing while working with children and young people who have experienced traumatic events. Being affected by the trauma of the children you support is a natural response - it reflects your empathy and care. The goal is to make sure this important work doesn't take a lasting toll on you or your colleagues. We’d love to hear about your experiences and highlights in the Connect discussion forum.

June Lunch & Learn: Staying Balanced In Challenging Times: A Psychological Perspective

In this month's Lunch & Learn hear from Dr Carla Croft, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Barts Health NHS Trust and Head of Staff Psychological Wellbeing and Service Lead.

With the support of Barts Charity in 2021 she and a newly established team of psychologists set up a compassionate psychological support offer for all staff at Barts Health, that serves as a model to other trusts. She and the team now lead a network of psychological support services from 42 acute trusts across the UK that meets several times per year to collaborate. A major focus of her current work is understanding the impact of trauma specifically for those working in healthcare.

Carla will be sharing insights and discussing strategies that support healthier, more sustainable working practices.

Join us on June 23rd, 12pm - 1pm. The session will take place on Zoom

Please see Dr Carla Croft Bio.docx

Register your interest

What does research evidence tell us about...

Vicarious trauma 

So often those working with traumatised children and young people are told to practice self-care and find a healthy work/life balance. This approach however ignores the responsibility of the organisation to support their teams and protect them from the impact of vicarious trauma.

This study looks specifically at how organisations can actually help, highlighting these key protective factors which are a great starting point to develop a culture of care in a team:  

  • regular supervision, 
  • peer support, 
  • diverse caseloads, 
  • specific trauma training,
  • a culture which validates vicarious trauma.

Vicarious resilience 

Almost 20 years ago a new term ‘vicarious resilience’ was coined. In contrast to the more common focus on vicarious trauma, it instead captures the powerful positive impact of working of working those who have been traumatised. This original paper describes the sustaining role that witnessing the adaptive and resilient ways people begin to cope after unimaginable adversity. It highlights how the professional’s own perception of the impact of their clients’ stories on their lives plays a key role in protecting and even inspiring their continued work. Maybe this is something you can relate to? 

Supporting the wellbeing of an ethnically diverse children’s workforce

With a substantial proportion of the children’s workforce being from minoritised ethnic groups, it is vital we think specifically about the wellbeing of all staff. It is not enough to just ‘show awareness’ of any additional risks to wellbeing, but to actively seek ways to reduce risk to retain skilled and valued staff. 

This study explores both the motivation for staying in a difficult role as well as outlining the ways in which discrimination or sheer exhaustion from speaking up and being ignored can impact wellbeing and retention. It aligns with international research findings and calls for the need for fundamental organisational change. 

Rating your own secondary traumatic stress

Experiencing strong emotions when hearing about the events that children have experienced is a natural empathic response, however if these reactions are very intense and seem to be a bit stuck then this could indicate a more significant impact which could warrant some additional support. If you or a colleague is worried about experiencing persistent difficulties, then you might want to look at this paper outlining the Secondary traumatic Stress Scale (STSS). This is a self-report measure with statements about reactions across three domains of intrusions, avoidance and arousal. The STSS scale itself is now featured in our Resource hub. 

Resources

We’ve added three new resources about protecting staff wellbeing to the resource hub.