This FREE HRC webcast aired on Thursday, August 11, 2011 at 1:30 ET. Kathleen Guarino, Trauma Specialist from the National Center on Family Homelessness explored the meaning of vicarious trauma, highlight risk factors and warning signs, and discuss strategies that individuals and organizations can use to support awareness and health.
View the complete webcast recording: Responding to Vicarious Trauma: Self-Care for Homeless Service Providers
View the webcast transcript: Responding to Vicarious Trauma: Self-Care for Homeless Service Providers
We all need opportunities to step back, breathe, and think about how our work both challenges and enriches us on a daily basis. For people who work in the field of human services, experiences of intense fatigue and burn-out are common. In addition to the stress of supporting others, managing paperwork, and meeting expectations, partnering with people who have experienced overwhelming and traumatic life events can be traumatizing for service providers. This phenomenon, know as vicarious trauma or compassion fatigue, can have a significant impact on quality of life both at work and beyond. This webcast will explore the meaning of vicarious trauma, highlight risk factors and warning signs, and discuss strategies that individuals and organizations can use to support awareness, balance, and health.
About the Presenter:
Kathleen Guarino, LMHC is a Trauma Specialist and Trainer at the National Center on Family Homelessness. She assists in curricula and other material and presentation development as well as training and consultation around the effects of violence and trauma in the lives of children and families. Kathleen managed the development of the Trauma-Informed Organizational Toolkit and currently oversees its implementation at the local and national level, providing training, education and consultation to create trauma-informed programming in shelter and housing programs. Kathleen provides trainings on traumatic stress and trauma-informed care throughout the country at regional and national conferences. Kathleen’s previous experience includes working as a clinician in a residential treatment facility and providing therapeutic services for children and families impacted by trauma. Kathleen is a licensed mental health clinician who received her Masters in Counseling Psychology from Boston College in 2001. Kathleen continued her clinical training by completing the Certificate Program in Traumatic Stress Studies at the Trauma Center in Brookline, MA, in 2007.