*****Please answer this as graduated physician and aspiring the mental health sp

*****Please answer this as graduated physician and aspiring the mental health specialty.
Nobody has ever measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold
Zelda Fitzgerald
Trauma-response helping professionals care about the work they do and the people whom they serve. However, when does caring become too much and what thoughts and feelings do trauma-response helping professionals have related to their trauma work? What do they need to remain mentally, physically, and emotionally able to do their jobs?
This week you examine the components and significance of a vicarious trauma assessment which highlights the thoughts and feelings of trauma-response helping professionals and issues related to trauma work. You analyze how the assessment can clarify the needs of trauma-response helping professionals which will inform your intervention strategies. In addition, you examine your own thoughts and feelings about counseling and trauma work by completing the vicarious trauma assessment.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this week, you should be able to:
Complete a vicarious trauma assessment
Evaluate personal experience related to the assessment
Analyze components of a vicarious trauma assessment
Evaluate the significance of assessing for vicarious trauma
Understanding your thoughts and feelings about trauma work helps to conceptualize what you need in order to be a healthy counselor. One way of achieving this information is by completing a self-assessment. The results of the self-assessment can assist you in developing strategies to increase your health and wellness as a counselor and address issues related to possible vicarious trauma. Completing this assessment may be difficult because it requires you to be honest about your beliefs, feelings, and reactions about yourself and your counseling work.
For this Discussion, you assess your experiences and needs related to your counseling work. Reflect honestly on your experience as you answer the questions and consider whether or not it is difficult for you to answer any of the questions and why.
With these thoughts in mind:
By Day 3
Post a brief description of your experience answering the questions. Explain whether it was difficult or easy to answer the questions and why. Then describe one personal need you identified from the assessment and explain one way you might address it. Be specific. Then, explain any insights you had or conclusions you drew from completing the assessment. Finally, explain the significance of using an assessment in the treatment and prevention of vicarious trauma for clients and counselors. Be specific.
Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.
Read your colleagues’ postings.
By Day 5
Peer responses should be posted by Day 5. Please respond in the following way:
Ask a probing question.
Share an insight from having read your colleague’s posting.
Offer and support an opinion.
Validate an idea with your own experience.
Make a suggestion.
Expand on your colleague’s posting.
Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you have learned and/or any insights that you have gained as a result of your colleagues’ comments.
Learning Resources
Stamm, B. (Ed.). (1999). Secondary traumatic stress: Self-care issues for clinicians, researchers, and educators (2nd Ed.). Baltimore, MD: Sidran Press.
Chapter 5, “Helpers’ Responses to Trauma Work: Understanding and Intervening in an Organization”
Chapter 9, “Trauma-Based Psychiatry for Primary Care”
Figley, C. (Ed). (1995). Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized. New York, NY: Brunner/Mazel.
Chapter 3, “Working with People in Crisis: Research Implications”
Quitangon, G. & Evces, M. (2015). Vicarious Trauma and Disaster Mental Health: Understanding Risks and Promoting Resilience. New York: Routlege
Chapter 10
Way, I., VanDeusen, K., & Cottrell, T. (2007). Vicarious trauma: Predictors of clinicians’ disrupted cognitions about self esteem and self-intimacy. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 16(4), 81–98.
Document: Template: Vicarious Trauma Self-Assessment (Word document)
Required Media
Media Carousel: Trauma-Response Helping Professionals
Transcript: Trauma-Response Helping Professionals (PDF)