You've probably heard secondary trauma stress referred to by several different terms: "compassion fatigue," "caregiver stress," "vicarious trauma," or simply "burnout." According to information provided by the U.S. Administration for Children and Families (ACF), no matter what else you call it, secondary trauma stress is a "set of observable reactions to working with people who have been traumatized and mirrors the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)."
In other words, secondary trauma occurs when personnel of many types (such as medical professionals, health care workers, caregivers, and emergency-responders) are negatively affected by witnessing, discovering, and treating the trauma suffered by those they are responsible for.
The effects of secondary trauma stress are numerous and alarming. The ACF lists twenty symptoms in four categories:
Lowered Concentration
Apathy
Rigid thinking
Perfectionism
Preoccupation with trauma
Guilt
Anger
Numbness
Sadness
Helplessness
Withdrawal
Sleep disturbance
Appetite change
Hyper-vigilance
Elevated startle response
Increased heart rate
Difficulty breathing
Muscle and joint pain
Impaired immune system
Increased severity of medical concerns
Experiencing even a handful of such symptoms can be devastating, and could easily render an individual unable to function personally, let alone professionally. Fortunately, according to the ACF, once secondary trauma stress is understood and considered, the disorder "can be addressed and resolved and the caregiver or helper can heal and even grow from the experience."
For reasons that should be obvious, secondary trauma stress should be an important concern to nonprofit organizations that work with individuals who have experienced trauma.
According to a blog article by job-search firm ExactHire, annual turnover at nonprofit organizations is 19 percent--quite a bit higher than the 12 percent expected in an all-industry average. An article in Forbes predicted that 45 percent of all nonprofit workers will seek new positions by 2025. While not all nonprofit organizations are involved in work that involves secondary trauma stress, many nonprofit workers report overwork and stress as reasons that they quit.
And there are arguably even better reasons to address secondary trauma stress at nonprofit organizations. For instance, it doesn't make much sense to provide care and services to traumatized people and groups if you're simply passing that trauma and its effects along to the nonprofit organization's workers and staff.
What can be done to prevent secondary trauma stress? The ACF states that addressing secondary trauma stress falls into two categories: prevention and treatment. Further, the ACF suggests the problem should be approached at the organizational level (measures taken by the nonprofit itself) and the individual level. They then provide the following lengthy lists of suggested solutions:
Individual Prevention Strategies
Individual Treatment Strategies
Organizational Prevention Strategies
Like many such problems, secondary trauma stress is something that nonprofit workers should be made well aware of, and anyone who is susceptible to secondary trauma stress should learn about the condition, its symptoms, and the various ways to prevent and treat it.