ABSTRACT
The nature of the human spirit is resilient and strong; we thrive for survival against all odds. All the courageous and inspiring individuals who have shared their stories within this book to help others have recovered, over time, from their trauma experiences. The book concludes with their stories of post-traumatic growth. Psychosocial support for humanitarian aid workers takes the reader on a journey of understanding trauma, highlighting the psychological risk to aid workers, explaining the physiology of trauma, sharing in-depth case studies to explore therapeutic trauma models, exploring coping strategies, managing critical incidents, highlighting pathways of care throughout deployments, and discussing the cultural relevance of trauma psychosocial services. These psychosocial practices need to be embedded into an organisation’s culture. Trauma exposure is a foreseeable risk, and there is sufficient research to confirm that the impact of trauma exposure can have a detrimental impact on an individual’s mental health. The material in this book aims to provide guidance to organisations and individuals, and hopefully encourage consistent good quality psychosocial support within the humanitarian aid sector.
