SECONDARY TRAUMATIC STRESS

“That could have been me!”

Continuing my series of newsletters on what might not be burnout in our people.

Creating a psychologically safe workplace where it's 'okay to not be okay' is a critical first step to addressing whatever is ailing the team. Only by normalising these conversations and around mental health, knowing what to look for and what to do about it, and both equipping and empowering ourselves with the knowledge to identify and differentiate these challenges, can we hope to foster a non-stigmatising and psychologically safe work environment.

The Importance of Language

When we use the term 'burnout' as a catch-all, we unintentionally, but inadvertently, minimise the complexity and diversity of mental health issues in the workplace.

This not only perpetuates stigma in our teams, but also hinders effective prevention and intervention. Accurate language is the first step in fostering a culture of understanding and acceptance. This relies on the power of education and empowerment.

The Power of Education

Education is a necessary tool in combating stigma. We can equip leaders and team members with the knowledge they need to recognise the various mental health issues. I can help with that. But we are emphatic that leaders are not expected to treat, rescue or save anyone. They are however obliged to create a safe space and we can help them do that very effectively. The more we know, the less we stigmatise.

The Role of Leadership

Leadership has a significant part to play in this transformation. Leaders set the tone for organisational and team culture. By openly discussing mental health, acknowledging its complexities, and providing resources for various issues—not just burnout—they can create an environment where employees feel safe to speak up and seek help. This is a primary facet of psychological safety.

Psychological Safety

Psychological safety is often confused with psychosocial safety or wellbeing. In a psychologically safe environment, employees feel comfortable expressing themselves without fear of judgment or reprisal. This is especially crucial for mental health discussions, which are often sensitive and deeply personal. It speaks to the right to feel safe at work.

Psychosocial safety or wellbeing refers to the mental health of our people, in the context of their work and the workplace. The risks are anything that could cause mental health harms.

Tailored Interventions

Understanding the nuances between the different mental health issues allows for more targeted approaches to prevent and intervene. For instance, vicarious trauma may require specialised therapeutic approaches, depending on severity, while burnout might be alleviated through workload management. A blanket approach will not be effective or sufficient.

The Bottom Line

Ultimately, the goal is to create a workplace where mental health is treated with the same seriousness as physical health. This is not just an ethical imperative but also a business one. A workforce that feels understood and supported is more engaged, more productive, and more resilient.

We are also legally obliged to prevent issues from arising whenever or wherever possible.

We need to be across the different potential issue we face in order to do that effectively. And we need everyone to understand the subtle differences we could encounter.

Here is another mental health challenge we see in certain sectors and teams. It may be relevant to your workplace?

SECONDARY TRAUMATIC STRESS

“That could have been me!”

Secondary traumatic stress is a condition affecting professionals who are indirectly exposed to trauma through their work with traumatised individuals. Unlike burnout, which is related to work overload, secondary traumatic stress specifically stems from the emotional toll of dealing with the other person’s traumas.

It is more acute than vicarious trauma, with more sudden onset. The difference between the two being STS occurs more quickly and could be related to one event. Vicarious trauma is a slow burn, and stemming from the exposure to it, more than the experience of an event.

Common in fields like social work, counselling, and emergency response, but increasingly seen in occupations such as those mentioned earlier, it is a form of stress that mirrors the symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Overall, the available findings highlight the presence of trauma-related stress, with a prevalence ranging from 7.4 to 35%, particularly among women, nurses, frontline workers, and in workers who experienced physical symptoms (Benfante, A., Tella, M., Romeo, A., & Castelli, L. (2020).

For example, recent research findings (2020) showed that compared with health care workers, police officers suffer from secondary traumatic stress to a greater extent. And the symptoms mirror those of PTSD, with negative emotions and burnout, making misdiagnosis common.

It can manifest as intrusive thoughts, emotional numbness, or heightened arousal, impacting both personal well-being and professional effectiveness.

Addressing it requires specialised therapeutic interventions, making it crucial to differentiate from other workplace mental health issues. It is often the case that perhaps having some previous trauma in their own lives can trigger a current STS sooner in some team members.

Even then, the person who experiences it may not understand what is occurring, making it difficult to speak about in some environments.

Exposure to traumatic events, human suffering, problematic situations and episodes of violence can cause psychological damage and lead to the development of secondary traumatic stress (maran, D., Zito, M., & Colombo, L. (2020)

I can help with that. As a Clinical Director, I have developed and delivered programs tackling extreme levels of burnout and mental ill-health in individuals and groups for over a decade.

If this information is important enough for your to read this far, then please share it with anyone you know that needs to read it as well.

Then, grab some of my time from this link . Let’s have a discussion around getting this right for our people.