managing the impact helping can have through resiliency building

Managing The Impact Helping Can Havethrough Resiliency

Building

Presented by:

Lib Hinson, LISW-CP, APand

Libby Ralston, Ph.D., LISW-CP; LMFTCharleston, SC

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Learning Objectives1. Participants will learn about the potential impact of

trauma to the "well being" of staff, volunteers and their organizations as we work daily to protect and heal child victims.

2. Participants will learn about passion, stress hardiness and emotional intelligence and other concepts that are "strength based" and have the potential to support resilience and the capacity for long term, positive work in the trauma field.

3. Participants will have an opportunity to apply these strength based concepts to themselves and to identify actions to take to increase resiliency in themselves as they interact with and their community partners.

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What is Trauma?

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Child Welfare Committee, National Child Traumatic Stress Network. (2008). Child welfare trauma training toolkit: Comprehensive guide (2nd ed.). Los Angeles, CA & Durham, NC: National Center for Child Traumatic Stress

Trauma is defined as an experience that threatens life or physical integrity AND that overwhelms an individuals capacity to cope.

What is Being Trauma Informed?

Being trauma informed requires:

• Considering the potential impact of trauma as we consider how to best respond to the needs of abused and traumatized children.

• When we have a concern about a child, to consider the possibility that the child has experienced a trauma which has resulted in traumatic stress that is playing a role in that concern.

• Thinking about trauma, doing a trauma screen and assessment to inform our interventions with a child and family.

• Understanding the potential risk of exposure to the trauma of others on those in a helping role or profession.

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Potential Impact of trauma on helpers

Vicarious Traumatic Stress involves reactions of supporters/helpers to those who actually experienced the traumaSecondary Traumatic Stress may result from

• exposure to traumatic material from the victim• talking to others about trauma• learning about the impact of trauma on the children we

serve• dealing with a complex community system• not being able to protect/help heal a child• may lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

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Secondary Traumatic Stress

“The natural and consequent behaviors and emotions resulting from knowing about a traumatized event from a significant other, the stress from helping or wanting to help a traumatized or stressed person.” (Figley, 1995)

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Potential Risk of STS

Secondary Traumatic Stress can alter:

• how we think about our work

• our world view

• how we feel about ourselves and others

• our professional and personal relationships

• our feelings about children and families we serve

• and can impact our capacity for empathy7

Potential Impact of STSCognitive effects

• Negative bias, pessimism

• All-or-nothing thinking

• Loss of perspective and critical thinking skills

• Threat focus – see clients, peers, supervisor as enemy

• Decreased self-monitoring

Social impact

• Reduction in collaboration

• Withdrawal and loss of social support

• Factionalism

Emotional impact

• Helplessness• Hopelessness• Feeling

overwhelmed

Physical impact

• Headaches• Tense muscles• Stomachaches• Fatigue/sleep

difficulties

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Cognitive Shift?

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Potential Risk of STSMay result in coping techniques that include:

• Minimize or avoid the traumatic material• Be unwilling/unable to “hear” the material• Distance ourselves from the child and/or family• Distance ourselves from colleagues• Develop/use punitive responses• Abandon the child/family• Being Self-Protective/self focused vs. child focused• Substance abuse

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How can this impact your work?

• Working with abuse victims attract staff and volunteers who want to be a part of helping abused children and their families; however, the actual work leaves some individuals feeling overwhelmed, depressed, anxious and over identifying with the traumatized victims they serve.

• Attention has been given to the risk of Secondary Traumatic Stress and many agencies have implemented actions and programs to help staff manage STS as a way to reduce staff and volunteer "burning out", "bailing out" or "moving on" from this work.

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Summary of Potential Risk

Staff and volunteers may:• see or define themselves as a victim and/or

assimilate the characteristics of victims into their own view of themselves and their work.

• get caught up in the drama of the abuse and play a role in maintaining the drama.

• be over identified or enmeshed with the client and violate professional boundaries

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Summary of Potential Risk

• expect clients and/or other professionals to meet their needs

• feel powerless and unable or unwilling to risk making decisions and taking action.

• feel hopeless and project that onto clients or other professionals

• experience anger when they view others within the system as not doing “their job” or anger at clients who are not compliant.

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ResourcesLipsky, Laura van Dernoot., and Connie Burk. Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2009. http://traumastewardship.com/

Dr. Jim HenryWestern Michigan University Children’s Trauma Assessment Center 14

Dolphin Stress This was used to study stress levels at St. Mary’s

Hospital.

The next picture contains 2 identical dolphins. Notice the two dolphins jumping out of the water. Thedolphins are identical.

A closely monitored, scientific study revealed that, in spite of the fact that the dolphins are identical, a person under stress would find differences in the two dolphins.

The more differences found between the dolphins, the more stress that person is experiencing.

Look closely at the photograph and if you find more than one or two differences, you need to extend your summer vacation. 15

Common Warning Signs of Trauma

Exposure

(van Dernoot Lipsky, Burk, 2009)

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Feeling Helpless and Hopeless

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A Sense That One Can Never Do Enough

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Hyper vigilance

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Diminished creativity

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Inability to Embrace Complexity

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Chronic Exhaustion

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Inability to Listen/Deliberate Avoidance

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Sense of Persecution

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Anger and Cynicism

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Minimizing

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Grandiosity/Inflated Sense of Self and Power

Organizational Stress“Complex interaction between traumatized children, stressed staff, pressured organizations, and oppressive social and economic environment.” (Bloom, 2005)

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So…..What can we do to increase our own resiliency?

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A Strength based approach

• There are individuals who are able to work in a the abuse environment over time and maintain their objectivity, energy and passion and keep the focus on the children.

• What allows these individuals to remain child focused; to remain positive and energized and to manage the potential risks already identified?

There are several answers to these questions including: Passion

Stress hardy personality characteristics Emotional Intelligence

Staff question: I love my job and working with the children and their families and I don’t stress out about it. Does this mean I am not empathetic?

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Passion and your work

Being passionate about your job is more than the old adage "do what you love“ or “follow your dream.”

• Passion is a belief that you are doing something meaningful.

• Passion motivates you to keep going even when it is difficult.

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How we can be passionate at our job?

• Exhibit passion in your work. Don’t just feel passionate about your job– act passionately too.

• Be innovative in your work and in problem solving. Try new and different approaches

• Be self driven and motivate. Don’t depend on external sources for motivation

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1. Passion produces energy.

An individual who has passion is driven forward from the energy passion produces. When it comes to leading yourself and others, passion and energy are essential. Donald Trump said, “Without passion, you don’t have energy; without energy, you have nothing.” Leaders who have passion also bring energy into what they do.

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2. Passion drives vision.

If a leader wants to see their vision and goals being accomplished, then passion is the fuel that drives the production and results of the vision. The vision of the organization or team should be frequently and passionately communicated to others.

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3. Passion ignites others.

The energy and passion of a leaders is communicated and rubs off on others. This results in others feeling and being more energized and motivated. A person’s passions can ignite other people’s passions and bring energy into their lives.

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4. Passion raises influence.

Passion impacts others. A passionate leader gains influence with others, and people want to be a part of what’s going on. If you want to raise your influence, then you need to be a passionate leader.

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5. Passion provides potential.

Passion brings new opportunity and opens the door to success. This is because when you’re passionate about what you’re doing, it moves you closer to your potential. Moving you closer to your potential causes you to be moving into the next level within your career and personal journey.

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Building ResilienceStress Hardy Personality Traits

Commitment • Commitment means having a purpose to life and

involvement in family, work, community, social, friends, religious faith, ourselves, etc., giving meaning to our lives.

• When we have a commitment to something or someone important to us, this gives our life a purpose.

• When committed to something we tend to be motivated to put in more effort. This can help us to find a goodness and meaning to our lives.

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Stress Hardy personality traits

Control

• Studies have shown that how much control we perceive we have over any stressor will influence how difficult the stressor will be for us to cope with.

• Researchers have found there are basically two types of control, Internal or External which can either exacerbate or reduce a stressful situation?

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Locus of Control: How a person perceives the cause of life events

External locus of control people

• Believe that they have little or no control over what happens to them; what happens is due to fate or destiny and that they will not be able to influence it.

Internal locus of control people

• Know they cannot influence all the external events in their lives, but have a deep sense of choice in how they react.

• Perceive self as responsible for certain occurrences and having some influence over the event.

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Internal Locus of Control

• Feel in control over what happens in their lives, and tend to accept responsibility as well as credit for their actions.

• Believe that their effort impacts their success in life and that live events are not controlled by luck/fate, their genetic make-up, or socioeconomic status.

In general, this attitude generates high motivation, effort, perseverance, and a willingness to take risks. It goes without saying that success is more likely with all these qualities present.

Research shows that with a few exceptions, the internal locus of control is the healthier end of the spectrum.

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ChallengeChallenge is about how we perceive the events that occur in our lives; seeing difficulties as a challenge rather than a threat and accepting that the only thing in life that is constant, is change.

If we view change as a total threat or see every difficulty as threatening to us this may trigger a stronger fight/flight response than if we see the event as a challenge.

Stress hardy people don’t ruminate over change, they are not frightened by it, they accept it as being a natural part of life, not a threat but an opportunity to learn and grow.

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Coherence: A view that life makes sense, including an ability to make sense of life’s events.

Community: The ability to find a valued place in a group of like minded individuals sharing a vision.

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Building Resilience: Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

Emotional Intelligence is “an array of non cognitive capabilities, competencies, and skills that influence one’s ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands and pressures.”

Domains of EQInterpersonal: empathy, interpersonal relationships, social responsibilityAdaptability: problem solving, reality testing, flexibilityStress management: Stress tolerance and impulse controlGeneral Mood: Happiness, Optimistic

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Building Resilience: Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

• Why is EQ important?

• E.Q. predicts higher work performance three Xs better than IQ

• Leadership is largely an emotional intelligence. • All interaction can be gauged along a continuum

from emotionally toxic to nourishing

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The Good News The good news is all of these concepts have the potential

to increase our ability to manage the secondary traumatic stress inherent in working with abused children. And, they can all be learned strength based coping behaviors and responses.

What are the common characteristics of individuals who have passion, who are stress hardy, have a high EQ and how can we use this knowledge to strengthen ourselves and our organization?

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Building/Strengthening Resiliency • Have and act on passion for the work

• Internal locus of control• Value and belief driven• See adversity as a challenge or problems as

an opportunity• See change as a natural part of life: flexible• Optimistic• Able to make sense out of life events• High Emotional Quotient• Share their vision and work with like minded

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Building/Strengthening Resiliency

• Respect themselves and others and have a spirit of cooperation, looking for win-win solutions.

• Realize that no matter how the present situation turns out, they will learn and grow from it.

• Are able to tolerate ambiguity, uncertainty, and imperfection.

• Are reasonably optimistic, have a sense of humor and though dedicated to doing things well, don’t take themselves too seriously.

• Evaluate their ineffective ways of thinking and behaving, and make appropriate changes.

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Actions to increase Resiliency • Introduce concepts to others we work with

• Identify and highlight demonstrations of stress hardiness, passion, etc.

• Apply identified behaviors when problem solving

• Help move self and others from “I can’t because” to “we will by...specific actions.

• Help shift from what will you do for me to how can I strengthen myself.

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Actions to increase Resiliency• Organizations can look for these characteristics

when interviewing for new hires and volunteers.

• Increasing these characteristics can be the focus of professional development.

• Leaders can model these characteristics and reinforcement them in others.

• These characteristics can be discussed and valued within an organization.

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R: Resilience or Rescuer?

Building our own Resiliency

• Understanding the impact of our work and our own vulnerabilities allows us to prevent, ameliorate and transform the negative impact of our work on our selves.

• The following slides offer a guide to thinking about you in your work and in your life as you identify ways to increase your own resiliency.

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Building Resiliency: I. Willing to Ask the tough questions to

myself. Who do I want to be at work now?

What were my intentions when I started work? – A toxic contributor or a toxic

handler• Easier to be a toxic contributor. Natural

consequence of being overwhelmed• Being a toxic handler requires

intentionality, energy, and self awareness. A willingness to work through my ongoing desire to avoid pain. A reconnecting to why I do this work.

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Self Reflection• Why am I doing what I’m doing?• What is my intention• Is this working for me?• If I weren’t doing this work, what

would I love to do?“Having a Plan B reminds us that what we do is an act of free will. Plan B could involve a career change, a new place to live, a fresh approach to our current work, or a different life altogether.”(Lipsky 2009)

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Building Resiliency II.Focusing/Mindfulness

• Being present and naming what is happening in me (thoughts, feelings) at this moment.

• Being present and naming what is happening to that child or adult and how that is affecting me and identifying where in my body I am experiencing the impact. 56

Building Resiliency: III.Compassion

Can I embrace my own helplessness without blaming myself or others? I do have limitations and I can appreciate them.

If I cannot provide compassion to myself can I really give it to others? 57

Building ResiliencyIV. Collaborative Alliance

– “We are in this together!” – “We are not our role but human beings.”

• The organizational culture significantly affects the “collaborative alliance” in the office

• Continual reminders that we are all working together toward a common goal: best interests of the child.

• Recognition that workers, supervisors, and administration are engaged in a similar process of managing pain and navigating organizational demands

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Building Resiliency:V.Mastery/Efficacy

• Competency derives from maintaining my compassion and doing what I need to do regardless of the outcomes

• Ability to regulate negative emotion when I am upset

• To recognize what can be controlled and what cannot

• Belief that advocacy matters no matter what the outcome

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Building Resilience VI. Fueling Hopefulness

• Recognition that negativity is the norm and default mode so I can be aware of what I am doing.

• Moving from trying to control outcomes to providing opportunities for change.

• Believing that others are doing the best they can.

• Acknowledging and learning from failure rather than blaming.

• The little things I do may mean something important to children and families in the future despite what is happening in the present.

• Reminding myself of past successes 60

Thank You! We celebrate you and your work

For what you do for the childrenFor believing that we can make a difference in the lives of abused children and their families.

For further information, please contact:Libby Ralston, Ph.D.

[email protected]

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RememberWho We Work For!!

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