Vicarious Trauma: An Interview with Golie Jansen, Associate Professor, Department of Social Work, Eastern Washington University

From The Research & Advocacy Digest, A Publication of the Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs, 2004

WCSAP: What originally led you to do this research project?

G: During my conversations with therapists who worked with sexual assault survivors, I noticed that they made statements and discussed some behaviors that made me question how the work was affecting them. For instance, I heard about instances of therapists saying they were shopping during every lunch break, needed drinks to relax when they got home or just stated that they were not involved in much of anything. So, I started wondering if they were experiencing vicarious trauma because of their work. I also started to question whether the organization had a responsibility to address some of those negative aspects of sexual assault work with their workers. In reading the literature pertaining to vicarious trauma I wanted to determine whether organizational support made a difference in how it mitigates vicarious trauma. Although there is much literature pertaining to vicarious trauma, there is very little literature on the relationship between organizational support and vicarious trauma, so I set out to conduct a research project on the topic.

WCSAP: Can you describe how you designed your research project?

G: We used two standardized instruments: 1) the Traumatic Stress Institute’s (TSI) Belief Scale and 2) the Measure of Perceived Organizational Support, which measures how satisfied workers are with their organization and their perceptions of support they receive from them. These two measures give us a good idea about the relationship between perceptions of support and whether that support has any influence over how vicariously traumatized they are. We distributed the surveys at WCSAP’s annual conference to a variety of participants, including advocates, educational specialists, managers, community outreach specialists and therapists and had a 40% return rate, which is pretty high.

WCSAP: We know your study is still being analyzed and refined, and will be submitted for formal publication in the near future, but can you tell us what your preliminary findings are?

G: Preliminary findings indicate that participants were definitely experiencing vicarious trauma as a result of this work, but we also are finding that when people perceive their organizations to be supportive, they experience lower levels of vicarious trauma. At this point in the analysis, our hypothesis has been strongly confirmed; this study is leading us to believe in the relationship between organizational support and how much this support can mitigate the severity of vicarious trauma. This information is very much needed because it provides recommendations for organizations on how to manage their programs to mitigate or even prevent the effects of vicarious trauma.

WCSAP: Based on your preliminary findings, what are some recommendations that you would give to sexual assault organizations, their workers and management? What is crucial for them to understand?

G: My recommendations are as follows:

• It is important for organizations to understand their role as the managers of all this and to not place the burden of dealing with it on the individual therapists and advocates.

• Younger, less experienced workers may need more training since we’re finding that they tend to be more vicariously traumatized than more experienced workers.

• Organizations have an obligation to inform and a duty to warn those coming into the field of the potential occupational hazards of the work. This can be done as part of the hiring process so they can make informed choices about whether to continue. Organizations can also set this practice up in their personnel protocols. They should, however, not only stress the hazards, but ways advocates can protect themselves and discuss what the organization will do to help minimize the most negative effects.

• Provide more training on trauma in general to students and sexual assault workers so they are aware of its impact. Universities often don’t emphasize this, which ultimately does a great disservice to those going into the work. Consequently the workers have limited exposure regarding the nature of trauma but then find themselves dealing with extremely traumatized people. This also speaks to the need for more intensive staff development.

WCSAP: Those are great recommendations. Is there anything else you would like to add about this topic?

G: One of the ways that vicarious trauma impacts people is that is affects their worldview, spirituality and sense of identity. Someone may initially be an idealistic person who sees the world as a place where things are fair or where people are basically good. But by doing this work you only work with the atrocities that people tell you. Consequently, you may begin to shift the notion of what your worldview looks like and find yourself becoming more cynical, and the whole idea of hope becomes lost. The question then arises, if I as a therapist or sexual assault advocate lose hope, how can I instill it in people who are most vulnerable? How can I demonstrate that there are ways to address it; that there are antidotes? Also, if we don’t see great success in the work, we may think “I’m a bad therapist” or “I’m a bad advocate.” These are issues that agencies can help workers address. Staff meetings and consultation can help people begin to identify ways they are being affected and develop strategies to deal with them, like fostering self-care routines.

I also want to remind people that even though we hear and see atrocities, it is important to remember that people are doing incredible, beautiful and heroic things out there in the world, every day. You can embrace both the atrocities and the goodness. It’s important to keep a balanced perspective.

I have completed another research project by interviewing 15 sexual assault workers from all over the state. It was amazing to see how those workers who have stayed in this field for ten or more years talked about the joy and satisfaction this work gives them. Many of them said that spirituality now had a big place in their life as a result. In doing this work they gained a deeper understanding of what life is like, what relationships really are and how beautiful the world is. So we also need to begin to talk about post-traumatic growth and how resilient we are. This work can deepen our sense of connection in the world because we can overcome trauma and suffering. However, one won’t come to this place if they don’t address the harmful and hurtful aspects of the work, which ultimately can be damaging to our clients.

Women, Trauma, and Self Blame

When working with female victims of trauma, we often come across women who hold a lot of regret and self blame in regards to their actions. It may not be immediately evident to the advocate working with the mother, however, once the women engages in a relationship with an advocate or other service provider, or has the opportunity to work on her relationship with her children, she may begin to voice a sense of failure, disappointment, loss and grief over the years spent using substances.

According to Dr. Stephanie Covington, an expert in women, trauma and substance abuse; “women are strongly attuned to connections and relationships. Because healthy connections are crucial for women, their psychological problems can be linked to disconnection or violation (Miller, 1976). Women frequently begin to use substances in ways that initially seem to make or maintain connections, in attempts to feel connected, energized, or loved when these feelings are otherwise missing in their lives. They may begin to use alcohol or other drugs to alter themselves to fit the available relationships -- typically, in order to please their male partners. They change themselves to maintain the relationships. Women also use substances to numb the pain of non-mutual, non-empathic, and violent relationships. They may turn to substances to provide what their actual relationships are not providing, such as energy, a sense of power, emotional and physical comfort, and relief from confusion. Addicted women often are paired with men who disappoint them by failing to provide emotional and financial support (including support for their children) and who wind up in jail. These women take solace from their disappointment through drug use. When a woman is disconnected from others (in non-mutual relationships) or involved in abusive or other traumatic relationships, she experiences a “depressive spiral” that includes diminished vitality, disempowerment, confusion, diminished self-worth, and a turning away from relationships (Covington & Surrey, 2000).”

Trauma survivors are well tuned-in to the attitudes and judgments of others and tend to internalize messages they receive from their partner, their family, and society. An abusive partner is likely to have planted the seeds of self blame by accusing her of being a bad wife and mother, weak, or keeps her isolated from any persons or activities who could possibly increase her self esteem or empower her to live a life free from abuse.

Tribal messages from family also impact a women’s view of her self. Due to the experience of trauma she may not be able to live up to the standards of womanhood that were imprinted on her throughout her childhood. She may also be grieving the loss of the dream she had of relationships, marriage and motherhood and blaming herself for her perceived failure in achieving those dreams. Societal expectations also play a large role in reflecting disapproval or failure when a woman does not fulfill her role in a respectable way.

“What is less well understood is the impact of trauma on a woman’s capacity to mother. The wounded mother is often the blamed mother. For many of these women, mothering means struggling to parent your child while at the same time struggling to recover. A history of past trauma can affect how a woman experiences parenting and how effective she is as a parent. There are several major parenting issues for trauma survivors:


• Feelings of shame, guilt, and inadequacy can interfere with parenting.


• Interaction with a child can trigger a mother’s traumatic past.

• The mothers are at risk of becoming overprotective of their children.

• At the other extreme, they may be neglectful in order to avoid being “triggered” by their children.

• Addicted mothers may have been inadequately nurtured themselves. (Covington, 2007).”

In order to assist women in resolving their issues surrounding self blame, it is important to help them learn about and establish strong boundaries. Once they have a sense of how their boundaries were violated by the abuser, they can begin to understand how much responsibility was theirs and how much of the blame has been unjustly placed on them. They can also see the part that the trauma had in their addictions and can be given new choices that help to empower them and move forward. By helping them understand that the choices that they made in the past may have been the best they could do under the circumstances. They may be able to move past the regrets and work towards living a new life without the hindrance of self blame. This takes patience with one’s self and constant reminders about mindfully living in the present.

Trauma survivors tend to judge their past behavior on who they are now instead of being able to see who they were. If their children, partners, family, or society are telling them that they are to blame for their actions women can become disheartened. It is important to remind them that recovery is a journey and that others may not choose to join them and instead remain in a place of blame and regret. By moving forward and looking on the past with compassion, they can begin to heal from wounds of blame and regret and become engaged in new relationships that reinforce the person she is in the here and now.

Resource:

Covington, Stephanie, PhD, LCSW, Working with Substance Abusing Mothers: A Trauma-Informed, Gender-Responsive Approach, A Publication of the National Abandoned Infants Assistance Resource Center, Berkeley, CA (Volume 16, No.1, 2007)