the legal aid society juvenile rights practice training materials © the legal aid society 2011 all...
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THE LEGAL AID SOCIETYJUVENILE RIGHTS PRACTICE
Training Materials© The Legal Aid Society 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted without the prior written permission of
The Legal Aid Society.
What Our Work Does to Us
What Our Work Does to Us (© The Legal Aid Society 2011) 2
The Legal Aid Society of New York City
Oldest (est. 1876) and largest private, not-for-profit organization providing free legal assistance in the US
Represents clients in over 300,000 cases each year
Provides comprehensive range of legal services in three practice areas: civil, criminal and juvenile
Services provided in a network of 25 neighborhood and court-house offices by a staff of 900 attorneys and 600 social workers, investigators, paralegals, and support staff
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Juvenile Rights Practice
Established concurrently with the NYS Family Court in 1962
Provides representation to 90% of the children appearing in the five NYC Family Courts on dependency, termination of parental rights, status offense, and delinquency petitions
Represents more than 34,000 children, ages birth to 21 years, each year
Provides representation in appellate cases and initiates class action lawsuits and other litigation aimed at system reform
Pioneered in the use of professional social workers to assist in representing children
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1. What are Secondary Trauma Stress (STS), Vicarious Trauma (VT) and Burnout?
2. Do we have Secondary Trauma Stress (STS), Vicarious Trauma (VT) or Burnout?
3. Why do we have Secondary Trauma Stress (STS), Vicarious Trauma (VT) and Burnout?
4. What are we going to do about it?
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Stress Defined
A mentally or emotionally disruptive or disquieting influence, it can be positive or negative.
It emerges over time.
Each new stress builds on unresolved past stress, compounding the effect of additional stress.
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Do You…
Work relentlessly for clients?
Get over-involved in work?
Frequently skip lunch to work?
Frequently stay late at the office?
Accumulate too many vacation days?
Sacrifice your health and private time to cases?
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1. What Are: Secondary Trauma Stress? Vicarious Trauma?
Burnout?
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Trauma Defined
Trauma: Any shock that creates substantial damage to the psychological health of the individual.
Traumatic stress: The strain on the human mind and body from a specific major event that shocks, stuns and horrifies.
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Vicarious Trauma (VT)
Witnessing traumatic events experienced by our clients
Absorbing the sight, sound, touch, and feel of the stories told by the victim
Causing an instant physical reaction
Shaking beliefs about kindness of others and safety
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Symptoms of Vicarious Trauma (VT)
The trauma experienced by the client creates distress in the helper which may cause symptoms such as:
• Minor sleep disorders
• Hyper-arousal
• Intrusive thoughts
• Recurring dreams
• Avoidance or emotional numbing
• Anxiety
• Depression
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Secondary Trauma Stress (STS)
AKA Compassion Fatigue
Combination of exposure to trauma and empathy
Behavior and emotions resulting from knowing about a traumatizing event experienced by someone close
Emotional weight experienced when helping or wanting to help a traumatized person
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Factors Contributing to STS
Chronic nature of our work and its stresses
Our own trauma triggered by hearing about clients’ trauma
Lack of control over work life
Experiencing:
• The pain of our clients
• The difference between expectations and realities
• The difference between how we perceive our job and how our clients and their families perceive it
• A sense that showing emotions, especially for attorneys, is seen as weakness
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Burnout Three dimensions:
• Emotional exhaustion
• Depersonalization
• Low feeling of accomplishment
All three feed on each other, quickly creating a downward spiral
Often stems from the distance between a person’s values and goals and the resources available to achieve them
Can be the end result of Secondary Trauma Stress and Vicarious Trauma
Common in helping professions
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Signs of Burnout Fatigue
Poor Sleep
Headaches
Anxiety and irritability
Depression and hopelessness
Cynicism
Gradual erosion of idealism
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Burnout Personified
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2. Do We Have: Secondary Trauma Stress? Vicarious Trauma?
Burnout?
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Caring Has a Price
STS is a natural result of knowledge about a trauma.
It is also the result of wanting to help a trauma victim,
And possibly not being able to do so.
We pay the price every day.
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People Bring Themselves
People bring their experiences and personal perspectives to anything they do:
• Their attitudes, beliefs and assumptions
• Their relationships with family, friends and others
• Their history of trauma
• Their cultural background
• Their socio-economic situationADAPTED FROM: ©Beth Hudnall, 2009. www.ProQOL.org
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The Professional Quality of Life Scale(ProQOL)
A 30 item self report scale
Measures Compassion Satisfaction, Burnout and Secondary Trauma Stress
Statistically valid measure developed with data from over 3,000 people
Most widely used measure of the positive and negative aspects of helping
ADAPTED FROM: ©Beth Hudnall, 2009. www.ProQOL.org
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Our Survey
ProQOL was used in our Legal Aid survey
30 other questions were added to the survey to develop JRP-specific data:
• Characteristics of the responders
• Work styles
• Environment
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Support Staff
Paralegals
Managers
Attorneys
Mean
Secondary Trauma Stress
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Social Workers
Support Staff
Paralegals
Managers
Attorneys
Mean
Burnout
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Support Staff
Paralegals
Managers
Attorneys
Mean
Compassion Satisfaction
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3. Why Do We Have: Secondary Trauma Stress? Vicarious Trauma?
Burnout?
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We Checked Out…
Differences among professions and their levels of STS
Is there a relationship between STS and:
• Vacations
• Outside activities
• Sense of responsibility for clients
• Supervision
• Health
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I Give My Clients My Personal Contact Information
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I Check My Email on My Personal Time
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I Feel that I Need to Be Available to My Clients Outside of Work Hours
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I Feel that My Client’s Safety and Well-being Rests Primarily on My Shoulders
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I Feel this Work Affects My Health
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What do you think……??
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Our Working Theory
Exposure to trauma is part of the job.
We work in a crisis-oriented, dysfunctional system.
We develop a different sense of “normal”.
Our work is child client directed.
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Exposure to Trauma
Our clients have experienced trauma.
Their parents have experienced trauma.
Their families have experienced trauma.
They come with current and past traumas that become a part of our work with them.
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The System We Work In
Problem focused
Power and control are important
Players in the system do not collaborate and cooperate and communicate
Lack of resources
Sustainability problems
Poor training, supervision & support for many players in the system
A sense of having to compensate for the failures of others
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Our Work Is Client Directed
Our job is not defined by winning.
We have an important but limited role in our clients lives.
We are not here to “save” them.
We have to trust that our clients’ decisions are right for them even if we feel differently.
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What Is Our Motivation?
Why did we chose a profession focused on helping others?
What core beliefs led us to it?
What do we get out of it?
What don’t we get out of it (money, status, power)?
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Empathy Defined
Appreciation of the feelings of others, even if they are distant others
Emotional responsiveness
Willingness to be/work with others who have problems
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The Bottom Line
Trauma is an
occupational hazard
of this work.
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4. What Are We Going to Do About It?
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Preventing and Managing STS
Knowledge
Recognition
Response
• Personal
• Institutional
• Professional
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The Ethics of Self Care
1. Do no harm to yourself when helping others.
2. Pay yourself first. Attend to your physical, social, emotional, and spiritual needs so you can provide the highest quality services to your clients.
3. Neglecting sufficient self care can cause harm to those you serve.
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Personal ResponsesBe an Advocate for Yourself
Remember the basics: sleep, eat, exercise, laugh
Balance home & work - leave work, refuel and refill
Cultivate healthy intimate and family relationships
Develop a healthy attitude towards the use of drugs and alcohol
Get regular medical & dental checkups
Consider including spirituality or meditation in your day
If needed, seek counseling and professional help
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Stress Management Learn stress management techniques
• Breathing exercises
• “Centering” and using guided imagery
• Biofeedback
• Progressive relaxation
Develop skills to soothe and calm yourself
Be aware of physical manifestations of STS
• Empathic resonance (tendency to experience the same feelings as the client, e.g. anger, sadness, etc.)
• Hyper-arousal, hyper-sensitivity (tendency to over-react to stimuli)
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Save Time for Things that Give Your Life Meaning
Contact with nature
Spirituality
Creative expression
Volunteer work
Whatever else works for you
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Institutional Responses Create a safe and supportive environment
Ensure regular supervision and peer and individual support, especially during times of crisis
Balance case load size/work load
Encourage attendance at continuing professional education
Address effects of STS and other job issues
Undertake coalition building with other system players
Guarantee a healthy work setting
Make sure staff understands policies and procedures
Provide access to leaders and supervisors
Create adequate human resource policies
Provide a method for seeking counseling and professional help
Create awareness of these issues during staff recruiting
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Supervisory Responses
Create and maintain an open and nonjudgmental professional space
Supervisors must address STS issues
• Identify pertinent cases, discuss issues, validate reactions, encourage and monitor self care
Good supervision includes:
• Dedicated time
• A collaborative relationship
• Constructive feedback
• Reflection
• Self exploration
• Mentorship
APPRECIATION AND RECOGNITION!!!!APPRECIATION AND RECOGNITION!!!!
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Professional Responses Within Your Office
Acknowledge toll of work
Arrange job into manageable, well paced parts
Boundary and limit setting - You can only accomplish so much with limited hours and personal resources
Engage in daily goal setting and/or self evaluation at the end of the day
Develop and implement plans for coping with STS
Reduce and resist isolation in yourself and others
Make worker care a team activity
Help each other keep good work boundaries
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Professional Responses Outside Your Office
Reach out for peer support - formally and informally
• Cultivate relationships with professional peers outside Family Court
• Attend professional trainings
• Participate in professional societies
• Cultivate relationships with other professionals who have a positive attitude
• Find professional mentors
Engage in social activism to help clients and the community develop a sense of shared mission
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Resilience
Resilience is how a person recovers (bounces back) from stress and trauma.
It can be inherited or innate, but resilience can also be learned and developed.
Resilience is related to the delicate balance between the factors and defenses that protect against cumulative stress (prevention and management).
It is based on having/employing coping skills that allow for continued stress resolution.
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Compassion Satisfaction
Perceived stress is associated with lower compassion and job satisfaction.
Workers in the same setting who report higher job satisfaction report less stress.
Job satisfaction is associated with higher levels of social support, autonomy and effectiveness.
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Our Goal
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Thank youPlease feel free to contact us
Vicki Light [email protected]
Brad Martin [email protected]
Jennifer Melnick [email protected]
Beth Hofmeister [email protected]