ABSTRACT
A secure alliance and therapeutic attachment for clients are at the core of counseling and therapeutic engagement. This is especially compelling when dealing with emergency and frontline workers who deal with crisis and human tragedy on a daily basis. Therapeutic safety enables these workers to share personal and confronting details relating to the impact of a tragic event or events that they may otherwise choose not to do. To provide safe and effective therapy it is necessary that the therapist have an informed understanding of the complex nature of the frontline work setting as well as the personal impact of such work on the individual. There are a range of factors that at times provoke negative or dysfunctional coping in response to these events. These can include the nature and complexity of an event or events, the intensity of and personal investment in the endeavor to save a life, and why the individual chose to work in this setting, as well as circumstances currently in the workers life which may provoke negative responses contributing to compromised coping. This chapter will explore these elements with the use of lived experience vignettes from four different frontline work setting clients.
