The Weight Of It All: Understanding Indirect Trauma for Helpers

As helpers, we stay in the room when others leave.  The nature of helping means that we will be affected by the work we do – the relationships we build bring us joy and growth along with pain and trauma.  Experience and research have taught us that we will all be impacted by our work as helpers and sometimes we will struggle with our work and our lives.

In this workshop, we will spend time thinking about the impact of our work in a complex way.  We will talk about the forms struggle can take, the gifts of our work, and what helps us continue the work of being in relationship with the people we serve.  Participants will have time to reflect on their own experiences and to develop some strategies to regain balance.

Presenter: Faye Hamilton has 30 years of experience in a range of social work roles including child protection and health care.  Faye is currently a PhD candidate with a focus on understanding the impact of trauma exposure for beginning social workers.  She is an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at MacEwan University as well as providing training and consultation to a wide range of organizations.