Sector specific resources
This episode of Beyond Blue’s Not Alone podcast series hears from Cliff Overton, a CFA firefighter who suffered trauma after witnessing death and devastation on an incomprehensible scale during Black Saturday. However, instead of acknowledging the trauma he had been exposed to, Cliff buried his emotions. He suffered guilt from feeling the inability to get the job done. In this episode, Cliff tells his inspiring story of coming to terms with his trauma, and ultimately, growing from it
Workers in the emergency services are routinely exposed to potentially traumatic events. Most people recover with the help of family and friends, but there are effective treatments for those needing extra support. Trauma and the Emergency Services is a booklet by Phoenix Australia which has advice on how to look after yourself, look after colleagues and where you can to get help.
Links to Phoenix Australia’s other fact sheets and booklets (downloadable as PDFs) about trauma can be accessed here. On this site will find fact sheets on What is trauma?; Trauma and children; Helping yourself after a traumatic event; Helping children after a traumatic event; Helping a friend or family member after a traumatic event; Trauma and serving in the military; About posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); Treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). You will also find booklets for people who have gone through a traumatic event, or are close to someone who has, and are looking for help to cope with the experience on topics including Recovery after trauma; Harry and the storm – a storybook for children who have experienced trauma; Dealing with Trauma – a guide for young people who have experienced trauma; Helping my children after trauma – a guide for parents
Traumatic events leave an indelible mark on many people – from individuals, to families, to emergency service providers, to whole communities, even an entire nation. This podcast by Dr Rob Gordon and Anne Leadbeater OAM will help you better understand the impact of trauma on people’s lives, different ways to move forward, and helping others with their recovery.
If you or someone in your family has been through a traumatic event, the whole household can band together to continue or create rituals to help them get back to normal life. Fortem Australia have created a booklet called Family Rituals: how rituals can help trauma recovery a guide for First Responder Families. This booklet helps explain what family rituals are, why they are important and how to create them to bring meaning and safety into your life, especially when your family is going through a tough time.
Children can be impacted by a traumatic experience in different ways. It could be through direct exposure to a traumatic incident, witnessing someone they love being harmed, or any kind of meaningful loss. Each child copes differently in response to a trauma. In this booklet called Helping Children Through Trauma: a Guide for First Responders, Fortem Australia offer 20 tips for helping parents and caregivers provide support for children and young people through a time of stress.
The US based Centres of Disease Control (CDC) have a site with information about steps first responders can take to prevent and manage the stress of witnessing personal suffering, intense workloads, making life or death situations, risking personal harm and separating from family to do the job. Information includes things you can do to prepare for a response, understanding and identifying risk during response including knowing signs of burnout and secondary traumatic stress. This page also lists self-care techniques, how to get support from team members, things to do after the response.
The US based National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health has developed information about stress from traumatic incident including: symptoms of stress (physical, cognitive, emotional, behavioural); recommendations to monitor and maintain on site health; and recommendations to maintain health following the incident.
Bradley University has released a resource guide titled, Managing Traumatic Grief and Coping After National Crises. It provides detailed insights and resources on the following topics:
– A Look At Traumatic Grief and How it Differs from Other Forms of Grief
– Effects of Traumatic Grief on Individuals, Families and Communities
– Common Reactions Adults and Children Experience After a Disaster
– Traumatic Grief Resulting from National Crises
– The Challenges of Providing Mental Health Care in Times of National Crisis
– Strategies for Building Mental Health Resilience During a Crisis
– Definition of Mass Trauma and How it Relates to COVID-19
– Short-term and Long-term Impact of Mass Trauma on Mental Health
– Coping After a National Crisis or Mass Trauma
Trauma-Informed Design
This article by Neha Gill (Dec 2019) looks at the why and how of trauma-Informed design. Though general, these principles have the potential to buffer emergency management workers from stress. Trauma-informed design is about creating physical spaces (like workplaces) to promote safety, wellbeing and healing and it is important because “the environment has an impact on attitude, mood and behaviour and so, affects identity, worth and dignity”.
Vicarious Trauma
Overcoming compassion fatigue: A Practical Resilience Workbook is a plain language toolkit by Teater and Ludgate (2014) packed with info, tools, scales and measures to help you, or help others, identify and respond to vicarious trauma. Some features that could be of use: a chapter on cognitive behavioral approaches; self assessment tools for detection; strategies and acts for intervention, and all importantly, a chapter on prevention.
This Vicarious Trauma Fact Sheet by the American Counseling Association gives information on how to identify signs of ‘vicarious trauma’, also known as:
- compassion fatigue
- secondary traumatic stress
- secondary victimization
Vicarious trauma should not be confused with “burnout”. It associated with the “cost of caring” for others. It is the emotional residue of exposure that first responders, ESTA call takers and others who hear traumatic stories and bear witnesses to the pain, fear, and terror of others.
General information
SuperFriend has created a booklet for those experiencing grief and loss. It including It contains resources including information about loss and how to cope with the two worlds of loss (the ‘new’ and ‘old’) as well as how to get, and how to receive help.
