Portraits of Professional CAREgivers: Their Passion, their Pain

Level:  Introductory / Advanced

Credits:  3

Intended Audience: CWS Lineworkers, Supervisors and Managers

Description of Course: Participants will view a screening of the film documentary “CAREgivers: Their passion, their pain”, which highlights, normalizes, and validates the pain associated with trauma work on the helping professional (first responders). Facilitated discussion will follow for reflection and applicability to the work we do. Identifying both the negative and positive impact of the work will be highlighted as well individual and organizational strategies to help cope with and manage secondary traumatic stress and compassion fatigue.

Intended Objectives:

• Increase understanding of the emotional, physical and psychological impact of our work on us as professionals
• Identify ways to counterbalance the negative impact through the recognition of compassion satisfaction and vicarious resilience
• Create individualized ‘emotional safety plans’ for use in times of stress and overwhelm
• Recognize and identify forms of “informal and formal” support within our organization, to include peer support/mutual care

Topics Include:

• Youth rights to sexual and reproductive education
• Required documentation
• Barriers to access or utilization
• Confidentiality and privacy