Last week I attended a one day training on ‘Self-Care and Vicarious Trauma’ which was developed and delivered by Freedom from Torture which provides therapeutic care for survivors of torture in the UK.

The multidisciplinary course is designed for people across many professional backgrounds and current work settings. I attended the course along with other practitioners and professionals from legal sectors and health and social care backgrounds. All participants had experience of working with survivors of different forms of trauma.

The training was incredibly useful in providing and outlining tools for practice that allow you to identify the risk factors associated with working alongside survivors of trauma as well as the symptoms and common indicators of vicarious trauma. The systemic influences such as cultural, societal and political contexts were explored via case studies as a means of identifying the ways in which vicarious trauma interlinks with the individual experience and broader societal context.

Most importantly, we were given the space to reflect on how vicarious trauma has affected our own self and in so doing devise self-care plans for us as individuals, in our teams and organisations.

Overall the training provided some very useful tools and reflections for practice, transferable and relevant to specific projects we are currently developing at Outside the Box.

Thanks to Freedom from Torture for a thought-provoking day, and for doing this important work.