Some ways you can try to find resiliency:ĭecide when, how and which news you are going to consume. You are not sleeping well (sleeping more or sleeping less).Here are some ways to notice that you may be suffering from secondary trauma: In order to protect ourselves, we must begin by identifying and implementing the necessary steps now.įirst, you need to identify that your resiliency is low, and your anxiety is high. There isn’t a mask or sanitizer you can order online have it overnighted and then wow – you’re protected against secondary trauma. This new interruptive world - paired with isolation, loneliness, worries, anxiety, and the demands of both our jobs and everyday life - can compound and add up. The already overstretched worker is now stretched beyond the breaking point. In the past few weeks, many of us have had to build a brand new routine while at the same time fight crowds, manage concerns of bringing the virus back to loved ones, handle quotidian stresses, and face enormous workloads.

Overnight, the gale-force winds of change wiped away any resemblance of the routine we had come to cherish and rely upon. Routines we had come to rely and depend on were rapidly ripped out from underneath us. Our entire reality crumbled around us and changed. Now, more than ever we must address secondary trauma before our frontline responders are faced with a catastrophic mental health crisis. The novel COVID-19 quickly went from being a headline to altering our reality. Nine or ten weeks ago we were susceptible to trauma and now even more so. Jonathan Munro, the BBC’s head of newsgathering explained the diagnosis came because of “several decades of work in conflict zones around the world.' In order to prevent secondary trauma from becoming the inheritance for our future peers and colleagues, we must pause and see how we can best address the situations ourselves. Recently, Fergal Keane, recently the BBC’s Africa Editor, stepped down from his role as a result of PTSD. And our exposure to the trauma and absorption of the trauma can eventually leave an indelible scar and lesions on our soul.

We are the front line of trauma and exposed to it constantly, day in and day out – a sponge for the wounds of the world. Secondary trauma only affects a handful of professions: social workers, therapists, teachers, nurses, caregivers, teachers, ER doctors, law enforcement, and members of the media. Secondary trauma is different from its exhausted cousin burn out. While everyone can burn out, not everyone can get secondary trauma. Anyone can burn out, some do so like a roman candle – in a bright combustible way, while others burn out slowly – quietly, like a candle at a dinner party slowly dripping away while no one notices - until it extinguishes itself.