Sharon Belshaw is the CEO of Clinical of Break the Silence, a charity working with people who have experienced sexual trauma. She also has a private practice working with not only people who have experienced trauma but a variety of issues. She works with adolescents and adults and is studying for her Doctorate in Psychological Trauma.
What is burnout and vicarious trauma? Burnout is when someone loses motivation and enthusiasm for their role. They can often feel a sense of hopelessness, and it can often impact others working with them individually. Burnout can begin when the workload is often too much or their life outside work is overwhelming such as caring responsibilities or feeling trapped. Vicarious trauma or secondary trauma as it is sometimes known as, can display traumatic symptoms such as intrusive images or nightmares. This can begin with the type of work someone does. However, it is not just professions exposed to working with people or situations that can occur.
Who can be impacted by burnout and vicarious trauma?
Although, common in first responders such as police and fire and rescue, helping professions such as therapists, social work and even in the legal professions reading in detail horrendous crimes or supporting people who have experienced ongoing trauma through their lives, can develop vicarious trauma. It is also worth-bearing in mind that staff who work on your administrative organisation or front-facing roles can also be impacted by what they hear or see — like HR roles. Even background staff who produce reports or are exposed to perhaps written work that covers some traumatic material such as journalists can be vicariously traumatised or burnt out.
What are the signs employers should be looking for?
There can be physical signs such as headaches and a weakened immune system, so picking up lots of bugs and stomach aches as our digestive system is often affected. Emotionally, you might notice numbness and disconnect or anxiety increasing or a sense of no hope and helplessness. It can be often difficult for other staff who are not affected directly but have to work with a colleague who is irritable and short-tempered, or they become withdrawn and are unable to concentrate.
What are the organisational implications?
When someone is vicariously traumatised or has experienced burnout, it often ripples through to other employees. The morale affects performance and retention of staff that in turn ripples to others. It can be difficult to see the personal impact on someone and how their life is changed, and organisational reputations can be affected. Partners, clients or contacts will see a change. We all know when we are speaking to someone who has no interest, or their work reflects lack of care. As employees spend huge amounts of time on their work and if the work itself has contributed to the vicarious trauma or burnout, it is your duty to prevent it until it's not yet too late to support your team.
What can you do?
Speak regularly to your employees. Give the time to get to know who they are as people and not tokenistic gestures. If you invest the time, it will help with honest communication. Post-COVID, there is no need to be a slave to the clock and lead by example. Autonomy is one of the critical elements to reducing burnout. People cannot and should not be expected to account for every minute of the day. Some days people give more than other days as energy levels fluctuate and having space without asking for permission is needed. Trust your team, work is not school!
Being flexible in approaches to work can be empowering. With the many challenges people face in their day-to-day lives, they will bring it to work. Treat your staff as a whole person who has other responsibilities or non-work related struggles and assist where it's possible.
If you have staff who you are concerned about, or you think is with potential risk of vicarious trauma, please do get in touch with me here. The vicarious trauma staff support service that we run at Break the Silence can be bespoke to your needs. We offer training and/or group work for your teams or individual staff support to meet all your needs. Check out our website for more information.
Read more from Sharon Belshaw
Sharon Belshaw, CEO-Clinical of Break the Silence
Sharon Belshaw CEO-Clinical of Break the Silence and Psychotherapist, works with people who have experienced trauma, loss and anxiety. She also supports staff who have experienced vicarious trauma through their work. She has written and published articles on autism and sexual abuse awareness for parents, supporting vulnerable women in maternity services and sexual abuse awareness.
