ABSTRACT
In organisations where workers are known to be exposed to traumatizing material, incidents or environments, it is helpful to provide training to support the workers in recognizing and dealing with their trauma responses. Having chosen to work in careers which involve traumatic exposure, workers will find that the work brings about changes in their responses, attitudes and beliefs, which can be both positive and negative. Post-trauma growth occurs when a worker is able to transform the negative emotional and physiological reactions to his/her work into positive learning and personal development. This chapter has been written for workers engaged in careers that expose them to experiences where their lives are put in danger, where they are involved in rescuing others, need to support traumatized people or are exposed to material which depicts or describes potential or actual traumatic events. The tools described in this chapter are therefore useful for a wide range of workers, including counsellors, nurses, social workers, police officers, foster parents, emergency services workers, psychologists, teachers, human resources workers and others. The tools are easy to learn and can be employed safely whenever a worker begins to notice the indicative signs of a trauma response to his/her work. However, the tools are not intended to replace professional supervision or therapy, but rather to build workers’ self-awareness and knowledge and empower them to use skills to protect their health and well-being by increasing their personal resilience.
