Jennifer Hollinshead: Vancouver needs to support the mental health of its front line workers
Credit to Author: Hardip Johal| Date: Mon, 24 Feb 2020 02:00:50 +0000
Many people think of soldiers who have been in battle when they hear “trauma” or “post traumatic stress disorder.” In reality, trauma reactions can happen to anyone who has experienced a physically or emotionally threatening event over which they have little to no control. Another common misconception is that trauma always leads to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In fact, many people who experience severe trauma don’t experience PTSD. Everyone’s reaction to trauma is unique. Something that might initiate a trauma response for one person might not affect another at all.
A lesser-known form of trauma response is vicarious trauma, which occurs when someone is indirectly exposed to trauma by empathizing with another’s account of a traumatic experience. It’s no surprise then that those who most commonly experience vicarious trauma are in the helping professions — therapists, shelter workers, police officers, nurses, etc. That’s why it’s so important that our front line workers are getting the mental health care they need.
Vicarious trauma isn’t caused exclusively by consistent interactions with survivors. The oppressive and unhealthy systems in which front line workers operate can also lead to vicarious trauma.
Before I started my counselling practice, I worked as a trauma counsellor for an underfunded agency providing services to people dealing with often unthinkable histories of abuse. My workspace was an uncomfortable, dimly lit office, and I often saw as many clients as I could fit into my schedule. I was being overworked with little support, and this eventually began to wear on my emotional resilience.
Working every day with clients who had been physically or sexually assaulted, and as a survivor of sexual assault myself, I began to experience symptoms of vicarious trauma, including extreme fear, anxiety, and nightmares. I started to think, “I’m not cut out for this work” or “I’m not strong enough to help these people.” I felt a great deal of shame about my trauma reactions at the time, which made it even harder to get support.
Unfortunately, those in the helping professions are often exposed to stressful and chaotic work environments. Nurses, for example, deal with severe staff shortages, high workloads, and emotionally taxing or even unsafe work environments. In fact, because of high-stress working conditions, vicarious trauma can often be misdiagnosed as burnout or psychological exhaustion.
Optimal mental health support for helping professions also requires investment at the federal and provincial levels. Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry issued a report last month that indicates British Columbians rate their mental health among the lowest in the country. There are so many different factors that contribute to mental health that it would be wrong to oversimplify the cause of this. That said, as this is epicentre of the opioid crisis, many people across the province are affected by drug poisonings. Because of this, B.C. relies on its front line workers arguably more than any other city in Canada.
Dr. Henry makes some great recommendations on how to optimize mental health, one of which includes the need for more support workers. But beyond just having more support workers, it’s also important that these workers are paid fairly and are well taken care of. They should have access to a full benefits plan and paid time off in order to take care of their own mental health. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case.
Vicarious trauma, and mental health issues as a whole, are more common among professionals who work closely with survivors of trauma. It’s incredibly important that we support these workers so that they can do their jobs in a safe and positive environment. An analogy I often think of is the oxygen mask demonstration before your flight takes off — you need to first take care of yourself before taking care of others.
Jennifer Hollinshead is the founder and clinical director of Vancouver counselling practice Peak Resilience.
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