June is PTSD Awareness Month, a time dedicated to increasing understanding of trauma and its lasting effects. The conversation around PTSD is often based on survivors and individuals who directly experience traumatic events, but there is another group that can be impacted. Those who care for, advocate for, and listen to these individuals can experience secondary trauma.
Secondary trauma, sometimes called compassion fatigue or secondary traumatic stress, occurs when someone develops emotional and psychological distress after being repeatedly exposed to another person’s traumatic experiences. Although they didn’t experience the event firsthand, hearing about abuse, violence, tragedy, or crisis can still leave a lasting impression. For those who work with survivors, there is an emotional cost that often goes unrecognized.
How Trauma Impacts Workers
At Stepping Stone, we often say this field is not a job, but a calling. It takes a very dedicated person to do the work that domestic violence survivor advocates do. Domestic violence affects countless individuals every year. These experiences often have a lasting impact on their mental, physical, and emotional well-being. Therapists, advocates, social workers, healthcare providers, and family members often hear details that are heartbreaking, disturbing, and difficult to process. Over time, continually absorbing these experiences can affect the listener’s emotional health.
Who Is at Risk?
Secondary trauma is very common in people who work with trauma survivors. Social workers, child welfare staff, victim advocates, and domestic violence advocates routinely hear stories involving abuse, neglect, and crisis. Mental health therapists and healthcare professionals, first responders and emergency personnel, friends and family members, and attorneys and legal professionals are also at risk.
Effects of Secondary Trauma
Secondary trauma may be difficult to identify because it often resembles post-traumatic stress disorder. Those who work with survivors may experience intrusive thoughts, disturbing dreams, recurring memories, or an inability to stop thinking about certain cases or conversations. They may also experience hyperarousal, feeling constantly on edge, or unusually irritable. Because workers in these professions prioritize others’ needs above their own, they may dismiss their secondary trauma. Recognizing secondary trauma allows workers to prioritize their own mental health to avoid burnout and create healthier environments.
How To Find Support
Managing secondary trauma requires self-care, setting professional boundaries, and therapy to process indirect exposure. This means prioritizing adequate rest, maintaining supportive relationships, and making time for activities that bring joy. Establishing professional and emotional boundaries is equally important, as caring for someone does not mean carrying their pain alone. Therapy offers a safe space to process emotions and address the emotional effects of indirect trauma exposure.
Caring For Yourself
It is important to recognize secondary trauma and understand that trauma affects more than those who directly experience it. The impact can extend to the professionals, advocates, friends, and family members who walk alongside survivors as they seek support. Those who dedicate themselves to helping others also deserve care and support.
