Honoring the Wear and Repair of Trauma Work: Self-Care for Clinicians Beyond Survival

As mental health professionals (MHPs), we are regularly exposed to psychological, physical, spiritual, and emotional impacts of working with therapy seekers impacted by trauma. Attention to how these experiences affect MHPs – whether through vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, or burnout – is often relegated to a study module, a one-time discussion, an assigned reading, or agency supervision. Rather than acknowledging self-care as an integrated, ongoing need for us as clinicians and people.

This brief training will provide an opportunity to deepen awareness of these challenges, develop shared language for naming and normalizing them, and explore practices for integrating radical self-care into our trauma-informed practices as part of ongoing personal and professional journeys.

Upon conclusion of the workshop, participants will be able to:

• Identify potential impacts of trauma work and its effects physically, mentally/emotionally, relationally, and spiritually in personal and professional domains.
• Assess and explore existing beliefs and values related to self-care that affect their clinical work.
• Develop practical, intentional self-care strategies that support sustainable trauma-informed clinical work.