Resilience in the Trenches: Vicarious Trauma Mitigation for Professionals on the Frontline

Professionals in the “helping professions” find themselves on the frontlines of support during crises at individual, community, national, and international levels. These dedicated individuals encompass a diverse range of roles, including first responders, therapists, social workers, healthcare providers, educators, religious leaders, and anyone else who offers assistance during or after traumatic events.
Working in such roles inherently exposes these helpers to traumatic situations. They must listen, witness, and often directly experience trauma alongside those they aid. This not only places them in a position of immense importance for those in need but also increases their own vulnerability to the effects of the trauma they encounter.

This webinar aims to explore the impact of trauma on helpers, posing essential questions such as: What occurs when a helper experiences primary or secondary trauma? How do a helper’s own traumatic experiences affect their ability to offer aid, and what are the implications for the individuals they assist? How does a helper handle their own unresolved trauma when triggered during the act of helping? Additionally, the webinar will investigate strategies to mitigate the effects of trauma exposure, drawing from fields like Interpersonal Neurobiology and Polyvagal Theory, ultimately enabling professionals to continue thriving in their crucial roles.

Learning Objectives
Participants will be able to:
1. Examine the impact of trauma exposure on professionals in helping professions.
2. Examine how helpers’ own trauma responses can impact the individuals they are trying to help.
3. Explore strategies to mitigate the effects of trauma exposure.

Presenters:

Lisa Dion, LPC, RPT-S, is an international teacher, creator of Synergetic Play Therapy, founder and President of the Synergetic Play Therapy Institute, co-founder of the Synergetic Education Institute, creator of the Business of Therapy and host of the Lessons from the Playroom podcast. She is the author of Aggression in Play Therapy: A Neurobiological Approach for Integrating Intensity and is the 2015 recipient of the Association for Play Therapy’s Professional Education and Training Award of Excellence.

Ludmila Golovine is President & CEO of MasterWord, a top-ranked language services company. Ludmila supports various projects to develop solutions to end sexual abuse, exploitation, and violence against children. Golovine actively participates as a member of the United Against Human Trafficking Coalition and is part of the Coalition survivor services committee. She helps survivors through her support of the UAHT, the World Childhood Foundation, Interparliamentary Taskforce on Human Trafficking, TBAT (Texas Business Against Trafficking), Nomi Network and redM. In 2023 MasterWord became the first Vicarious Trauma-Informed language services company in accordance with the guidelines of the US Department of Justice Office for Victims of Crime.
As a professional interpreter with over 30 years of experience, Golovine is familiar with the toll interpreting for survivors of trauma may have on the interpreters themselves. For the past 16 years, she has applied her experience in Trust-Based Relational Intervention therapy, Synergetic Play Therapy and Trauma Informed Care, and skills as Master Certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming Practitioner, and Certified Demartini Method Facilitator to develop training and tools for language professionals as well as trauma-informed providers who work with language professionals to foster a partnership that creates an environment conducive to healing and avoiding re-traumatization. Her work has been recognized by numerous awards.