Tier 2 – Additional knowledge

Knowledge

In addition to Tier 1 knowledge, you need to know: 

• the importance of reflecting on your own beliefs and attitudes about trauma and how these may affect how you respond to a disclosure or aspects of a victim or survivor’s story
• your threshold for coping with trauma exposure in the workplace may be affected by stressors in your personal life
• any specific supports and strategies your organisation offers, including professional development opportunities, to manage any traumatic impacts of disclosures.

Skills

In addition to Tier 1 skills, you can: 

• make connections between your own attitudes and beliefs about trauma and how these may impact your practice
• recognise when stressors in your personal or professional life may be affecting one another
• discuss your reflections in supervision or with managers
• request cultural supervision from an appropriate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander worker as appropriate
• request specialist supervision or consultation when working with priority population groups
• identify and seek to access training opportunities
• promote cultural safety and respect for diversity for both workers and service users
• develop a self-care plan that responds specifically to your needs and preferences.

Did you know?

Opportunities for professional training and development 

1800RESPECT provides an overview of the level of training about domestic, family and sexual violence that workers should access depending on their role and professional background.

Resource

Self-care plans 

You may wish to use the ideas from the Mental Health Self Care Wheel to think about ways you can care for yourself and develop a self-care plan.

Knowledge

In addition to Tier 1 knowledge, you need to know: 

• that people can develop vicarious resilience from their work in this area
• that professional supervision is distinct from line management, and has a role in ensuring effective practice
• supervision and support from your line manager is an important component of managing self-care at work.

Skills

In addition to Tier 1 skills, you can: 

• ask for assistance from your manager or organisation to manage the impacts of vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue
• seek out opportunities to debrief following distressing or traumatic experiences
• with the support of your organisation, seek out separate professional supervision as needed.

Practice tip

Seeking professional supervision 

Your organisation may offer professional supervision for trauma-related work in various forms. This supervision should offer the opportunity to reflect on the impact of the work and provide relationship-based education and training to support and develop your practice. This may be provided by your manager, an externally contracted supervisor, or your Employee Assistance Program.

Resource

Vicarious resilience 

While vicarious trauma and secondary trauma are important issues for you to be mindful of, recent research has highlighted the positive effects that people may derive from trauma work, and the resilience gained vicariously from an attuned and supportive workplace culture. To learn more about the concept of vicarious resilience, read this research article by Hernandez-Wolfe (2018).