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Information
A Trauma-Informed Approach to Self-Care: Preserving and Nurturing Yourself
Original Recording Date :
University of Buffalo School of Social Work Office of Continuing Education
Course Format
Hybrid: Recorded video online activity and reading-based online activity.
This course is a required course in the Online Trauma-Informed Organization Certificate Program: Basics for All Staff that was created by the University at Buffalo School of Social Work’s Institute on Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care (ITTIC).
Individuals who work with trauma survivors can experience burnout, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue. Work-related stressors can take a toll not only on the individuals doing the work, but also on the overall work environment. There is evidence that cultivating a culture that meaningfully supports staff self-care can help to mitigate the negative impact of these stressors while positively enhancing personal and professional growth. This presentation will increase awareness about possible impacts of the work, examine the importance of self-care when interfacing with trauma in one’s work, and offer strategies to support individual and organizational wellbeing.
Learning Objectives:
- Recall the core principles of a trauma-informed approach and describe how these principles may be mobilized to support individual and collective wellness;
- Recognize how individual behaviors and organizational culture can enhance self-care;
- Explain the professional and ethical implications associated with practicing self-care;
- Differentiate between vicarious trauma, secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and burnout, as well as compassion satisfaction, resilience, vicarious resilience, and vicarious post-traumatic growth;
- Formulate individualized and organizational strategies to maintain awareness of and address the impact of the work.
Target Audience: This course is appropriate for social workers and all levels of human service staff that seek foundational information on trauma and a Trauma-Informed approach.
Customer ServiceWe are happy to respond to any concerns or questions you may have. Please contact us at by email at sw-ce@buffalo.edu or by phone at 716-829-5841.
ADA Accommodations: If you require any support for your ADA needs in the United States, please contact us by email at least 3 weeks prior to the event by email at sw-ce@buffalo.edu or by phone at 716-829-5841.
Whitney Mendel, MSW, PhD
Whitney Mendel, MSW, PhD is an Assistant Professor of Public Health, specializing in community health education at Daemen College. Both her research and community work center around maternal and child health and health inequities. Whitney works in many capacities within the community, merging her social work roots and the prevention focus of public health in an effort to better meet the needs of the women and families of Western New York. Her research employs a social determinants of health perspective to inform prevention and intervention strategies to improve birth outcomes among disadvantaged populations.
