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Understanding Vicarious Trauma and Building Our Resilience Training

Area:
TTA Type:

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  • Area

Vicarious trauma is a significant challenge for individuals working in the fields of victim services, law enforcement, and other allied professions, due to their continuous exposure to trauma and violence. This vicarious trauma training is designed to address and reduce secondary traumatic stress for victim advocates, social workers, case managers, and other first responders.

Goal and Objectives:
  • Understand how trauma—past or present, direct or indirect—impacts us.
  • Learn ways to take care of ourselves while doing tough work.
  • Build individual and program resilience by building support and community and new ways to respond to the impact of the work.
Intended Audience:

This training can be tailored for law enforcement, prosecutors, and victim advocates.

TTA Format: Available in person and virtually
Length:

Eight hours (including two 15-minute breaks and an hour for lunch)

Agenda:
  • Intro to Trauma and Vicarious Trauma
  • Taking Care of Ourselves & Building Resilience
  • Building capacity as trainers
  • Orienting and supporting new mentors
SMEs/Trainers:

Lisa Tieszen has responded to the needs of traumatized individuals and families for over 30 years. Working at Children’s Hospital, Boston, she co-founded the first domestic violence advocacy project within a pediatric hospital: Advocacy for Women and Kids in Emergencies (AWAKE). There, she laid the groundwork for a more holistic response to families with concurrent child abuse and domestic violence. Ms. Tieszen was instrumental in expanding the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals’ attention to domestic violence advocacy across the region’s hospitals, community health centers, and public health departments. She founded the Safe Transitions program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which has grown to encompass responses to domestic, sexual, and community violence. Ms. Tieszen provides crisis response services, which have included providing clinical support during the mass shootings at women’s health centers in Brookline, MA, in 1994, the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, and Hurricane Harvey in 2017. She has a private psychotherapy practice in the Boston area.