ACKNOWLEDGE

Signs of vicarious trauma:

• Feeling more emotional than usual when hearing or reading about traumatic events

• Experiencing sleep difficulties and nightmares about traumatic content

• Having panic attacks

• Feeling more on edge and unable to relax

• Constantly looking out for threats or danger

• Intrusive thoughts or images from traumatic stories interfering with daily life

• Recurring thoughts or images of traumatic events 

• Becoming more negative in how we think about ourselves, others and the world

• Finding it harder to trust people

• Feeling less safe than usual

• Relationships being negatively affected

• Feeling physically and mentally exhausted

• Headaches, stomach aches, constipation, or diarrhoea

• Isolating yourself

• Avoiding hearing more traumatic stories or engaging with traumatic material

• Avoiding talking about the impact of these stories

• Hyper-focusing on traumatic stories

• Feeling numb

• Being oversensitive

• Being more easily startled than usual

• Experiencing a sense of detachment and hopelessness

• Overworking and feeling like you’re not doing enough

ACT

• Take a look at our top tips for managing and mitigating stress and burnout and compassion fatigue

• Maintain personal and professional boundaries

• Discuss options for taking breaks or extended time off 

• Seek professional support for signs of vicarious trauma, such as consulting a GP, specialist psychological support, referring yourself to occupational health or employee assistance programmes

• If you are experiencing feelings of helplessness or thoughts of self-harm, seek urgent support. Visit A&E, call 999 or contact helplines like the NHS Mental Health Crisis Line

ACKNOWLEDGE

• When staff are exposed to traumatic material the risk of vicarious trauma is increased

• That you or your staff team may need professional support if showing signs of vicarious trauma. Vicarious trauma can develop into post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) if left unrecognised.

• If you would like to know more about PTSD please reach out to us using the contact email below.

ACT

• Look out for the signs above in yourself or your staff team

• If you notice that you may be experiencing vicarious trauma, follow the top tips for staff. Remember that you are modelling what you would like them to be doing for themselves

• Talk openly with your team about the possible consequences of the work you do, normalise the risk of vicarious trauma, the importance of recognising signs for themselves, and how to get help if needed

• Make use of team meetings, supervision or check-ins to provide staff with a space to talk about their feelings

• Reduce or redistribute workload to make it as manageable as possible

• If you know staff have been exposed to particularly traumatic material or involved in traumatic incidents, make sure there are critical incident policies/procedures in place as an organisation

• Proactively ask staff if they need urgent help, consider signposting to A&E, calling 999 or contacting helplines like the NHS Mental Health Crisis Line