Title: Preventing Retraumatization: A Macro Social Work Approach to Trauma-Informed Practices & Policies - SocialWorker.com
Headings: Preventing Retraumatization: A Macro Social Work Approach to Trauma-Informed Practices & Policies
Preventing Retraumatization: A Macro Social Work Approach to Trauma-Informed Practices & Policies
by Patricia Shelly, MSW, Shelley Hitzel, MSW, and Karen Zgoda, MSW, LCSW
Defining Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) and Retraumatization
How Systems Can Be Traumatizing
Elements in Building Systems To Prevent Retraumatization
Specific Examples of Trauma-Informed Policy by Area:
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Content: All social workers and other professionals who work with people who have experienced trauma are at risk of being personally affected by that trauma. Secondary traumatic stress (STS) -- sometimes called compassion fatigue -- and retraumatization are common among helping professionals. We typically think about how to avoid retraumatizing our clients. But what about considering a trauma-informed approach to the systems in which we work? How can we build system-wide policies and practices that minimize retraumatization? For social work practice and systems policy-setting, we propose a macro approach to preventing re-traumatization. Defining Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) and Retraumatization
Secondary traumatic stress can follow exposure to another’s experience of trauma, resulting in emotional distress and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is as if we take in a portion of the trauma that the other has survived. Unlike burnout, which is a gradual process, STS can result from a single exposure to another’s trauma. Retraumatization is a conscious or unconscious reminder of past trauma that results in a re-experiencing of the initial trauma event.