Volume 7, Issue 4, 10/2019- Secondary Traumatic Stress Research

October 2019 | Volume 7, Issue 4

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EVIDENCE IN ACTION

A quarterly research brief from the
Center on Trauma and Children

Innovations in Secondary Traumatic Stress:
Practice Implications from the UK Center on Trauma and Children STS Translational Research Forum

September 6, 2019

Hilary J. Boone Faculty Center

On September 6, 2019, the Center on Trauma and Children hosted the Secondary Traumatic Stress Translational Research Forum at the University of Kentucky. This forum convened experts and interested professionals from across the state and nation to share ideas, hear the latest research and discuss the implications around our understanding of secondary traumatic stress among helping providers.

Research presented at the forum addressed the following areas:

distinguishing and assessing STS symptoms and impact on functioning as distinct using standardized measures and clinical interview protocols
examining rates, risks and characteristics of STS in different professions including behavioral health, health care, child welfare and human services
exploring additional constructs related to secondary trauma exposure such as vicarious resilience

Translational Tips

Participants from an array of disciplines brainstormed key recommendations and next steps based on the presentations. Recommendations in the areas of practice, policy and research include:

Organizations should routinely monitor how STS-informed they are using a self-monitoring process or tool such as the STSI-OA to identify areas of focus. See http://www.uky.edu/CTAC/STSI-OA for more information.
Organizations should pay particular attention to addressing physical and psychological safety of staff, and creating STS-informed and aware leadership to build staff resilience. Leadership should also monitor and manage levels of secondary trauma exposure of staff when possible. Examples of ways to do this include:
- Supporting mentoring, peer consultation, and reflective supervision
- Integrating STS monitoring using standardized tools as a routine activity
- Adopting low impact processing approaches to guide the disclosure of traumatic material in the workplace
- Rotating high-exposure roles among staff
STS monitoring of individuals should consider functional impairment as well as measuring traumatic stress symptom severity.
Foster parents should be included as part of the child-serving workforce and recognized as susceptible to and requiring appropriate STS awareness, prevention and response supports.
STS education, awareness, and prevention and response supports should be routinely included in all trauma informed care and trauma informed evidence based practice trainings and become a routine part of on-boarding in human service organizations.
Professional supervision should routinely address and incorporate STS awareness and monitoring. See the STS Informed Supervisory Competencies for Trauma-Informed Supervision at https://www.nctsn.org/resources/using-secondary-traumatic-stress-core-competencies-trauma-informed-supervision

University of Kentucky Center on Trauma and Children
859-218-6901 | http://www.uky.edu/ctac