Nasreen Hanifi & Hanan Dover
Topic
The Impact of Vicarious Trauma Amongst Multicultural Workers and Community volunteers and Mitigating Risk for Service Providers
Abstract
Vicarious Trauma impacts community workers, volunteers, and mental health professionals. Workers engaged in activities that expose them to working with survivors of trauma can lead to post traumatisation (vicarious trauma) or secondary trauma stress because of the nature of their work. This can impact the worker’s schemas and worldview in a negative way challenging their sense of physical and psychological safety. With multicultural workers there are added challenges because of the sociocultural context and in turn, there are additional coping mechanism such a religion and spirituality that can help make meaning during times of adversity. Organisations need to be equipped with best-practice measures to ensure their workers are supported during the delivery of their roles. Suggestions for screening measures, self-assessments, self-care, spiritual resilience, coping strategies, supportive networks and competence, supervision recommendations to prevent VT will be discussed.
Learning Objectives
Learning Objectives:
1. Understanding and identifying vicarious trauma
2. Multicultural context
3. Identification of negative response to trauma
4. Who would be at risk of vicarious trauma
5. Mitigating risk of vicarious trauma
6. Strategies that contribute to the prevention of vicarious trauma
Psychologist
Clinical & Forensic Psychologist
Biography
Hanan Dover is the founder and vice president of Mission of Hope. She is a Clinical and Forensic Psychologist and has completed four degrees in psychology at Western Sydney University. She is currently the Vice President of the International Association of Muslim Psychologists. She directs the Muslim mental health conferences and projects, and the Australian Muslim Achievement Awards for Mission of Hope.
Hanan is the Islamic Psychology Lecturer and the pioneer behind the Graduate Certificate in Islamic Psychology run by Charles Sturt University and ISRA.
Contact
hanan@missionofhope.org.au
