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Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) Prevention & Intervention Programs

Scientific Ratings in this Topic
  • 1 Well-Supported by Research Evidence
  • 2 Supported by Research Evidence
  • 3 Promising Research Evidence
  • 4 Evidence Fails to Demonstrate Effect
  • 5 Concerning Practice
  • NR Not able to be Rated

Topic Areas

Topic Areas

Definition

Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) Prevention & Intervention Programs are defined by the CEBC as programs, interventions, and practices that are designed to prevent the development of STS, or to reduce the impact of STS that has already occurred. Secondary traumatic stress (STS) is a trauma condition similar to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In fact, in 2013, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5), expanded Criterion A for PTSD to include work-related events such as those experienced by repeatedly hearing about traumatic events from the survivors of the trauma or hearing about an extremely traumatic event. Despite high rates of indirect exposures by professionals working in the trauma field, these experiences may not always be repeated, or extreme, even though symptoms of distress and even functional impairment may occur. This makes STS a condition that can parallel PTSD but is not always the same as the disorder. In fact, STS symptoms may range in severity from mild to extreme, and that functional impairment at work may exist even in milder cases. In addition, the trauma and secondary trauma experienced by their clients and staff can affect organizations and the organizational culture. If left unaddressed, STS can have a negative impact on the ability of individuals and organizations to help children and families. Child welfare supervisors and administrators have the challenging task of developing and maintaining high-quality practice in an environment that can lead to traumatizing their staff.

  • Target population: Staff and practitioners (e.g., support staff, caseworkers, social workers, supervisors, managers, administrators, directors, etc.)
  • Services/types that fit: Services can target individuals, organizations, or both levels. Services may include professional development; coaching and mentoring; supervision; or individual and group interventions, as well as programs to address organizational factors, agency climate, leadership development, or supervision practices.
  • Delivered by: Child welfare professionals, supervisors, clinicians, trained paraprofessionals
  • In order to be included: Program must specifically target the prevention or reduction of STS as a goal.
  • In order to be rated: There must be research evidence (as specified by the Scientific Rating Scale) that examines STS outcomes, such as changes in symptom levels, behaviors, and/or functioning. In addition to demonstrating STS outcomes, programs may also examine organizational outcomes, such as improvement in workforce performance, satisfaction, or retention.

Downloadable Topic Area Summary

For further reading:

    Bride, B. E. (2007). Prevalence of secondary traumatic stress among social workers. Social Work, 52(1), 63–70. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/52.1.63

    Cieslak, R., Shoji, K., Douglas, A., Melville, E., Luszczynska, A., & Benight, C. C. (2014). A meta-analysis of the relationship between job burnout and secondary traumatic stress among workers with indirect exposure to trauma. Psychological Services, 11(1), 75–86. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033798

    Meadors, P., Lamson, A., Swanson, M., White, M., & Sira, N. (2010). Secondary traumatization in pediatric healthcare providers: Compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 60(2), 103–128. http://doi.org/10.2190/OM.60.2.a

    Ogińska-Bulik, N., Gurowiec, P. J., Michalska, P., & Kędra, E. (2021). Prevalence and predictors of secondary traumatic stress symptoms in health care professionals working with trauma victims: A cross-sectional study. PloS One, 16(2), Article e0247596. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247596

    Sprang, G., Ford, J., Kerig, P., & Bride, B. (2018). Defining secondary traumatic stress and developing targeted assessments and interventions: Lessons learned from research and leading experts. Traumatology, 25(2), 72–81. http://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000180

    Sprang, G., & Steckler, Z. (2023). Traumatic stress symptom expression following indirect exposure: A multidisciplinary investigation. Traumatology, 29(2), 224–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000386

    Sprang, G., Whitt-Woosley, A., & Eslinger, J. (2022). Diagnostic and clinical utility of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Clinical Algorithm (STS-CA). Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(21–22), NP19811-NP19826. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211044961

Definition

Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) Prevention & Intervention Programs are defined by the CEBC as programs, interventions, and practices that are designed to prevent the development of STS, or to reduce the impact of STS that has already occurred. Secondary traumatic stress (STS) is a trauma condition similar to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In fact, in 2013, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5), expanded Criterion A for PTSD to include work-related events such as those experienced by repeatedly hearing about traumatic events from the survivors of the trauma or hearing about an extremely traumatic event. Despite high rates of indirect exposures by professionals working in the trauma field, these experiences may not always be repeated, or extreme, even though symptoms of distress and even functional impairment may occur. This makes STS a condition that can parallel PTSD but is not always the same as the disorder. In fact, STS symptoms may range in severity from mild to extreme, and that functional impairment at work may exist even in milder cases. In addition, the trauma and secondary trauma experienced by their clients and staff can affect organizations and the organizational culture. If left unaddressed, STS can have a negative impact on the ability of individuals and organizations to help children and families. Child welfare supervisors and administrators have the challenging task of developing and maintaining high-quality practice in an environment that can lead to traumatizing their staff.

  • Target population: Staff and practitioners (e.g., support staff, caseworkers, social workers, supervisors, managers, administrators, directors, etc.)
  • Services/types that fit: Services can target individuals, organizations, or both levels. Services may include professional development; coaching and mentoring; supervision; or individual and group interventions, as well as programs to address organizational factors, agency climate, leadership development, or supervision practices.
  • Delivered by: Child welfare professionals, supervisors, clinicians, trained paraprofessionals
  • In order to be included: Program must specifically target the prevention or reduction of STS as a goal.
  • In order to be rated: There must be research evidence (as specified by the Scientific Rating Scale) that examines STS outcomes, such as changes in symptom levels, behaviors, and/or functioning. In addition to demonstrating STS outcomes, programs may also examine organizational outcomes, such as improvement in workforce performance, satisfaction, or retention.

Downloadable Topic Area Summary

For further reading:

    Bride, B. E. (2007). Prevalence of secondary traumatic stress among social workers. Social Work, 52(1), 63–70. https://doi.org/10.1093/sw/52.1.63

    Cieslak, R., Shoji, K., Douglas, A., Melville, E., Luszczynska, A., & Benight, C. C. (2014). A meta-analysis of the relationship between job burnout and secondary traumatic stress among workers with indirect exposure to trauma. Psychological Services, 11(1), 75–86. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033798

    Meadors, P., Lamson, A., Swanson, M., White, M., & Sira, N. (2010). Secondary traumatization in pediatric healthcare providers: Compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress. Omega: Journal of Death and Dying, 60(2), 103–128. http://doi.org/10.2190/OM.60.2.a

    Ogińska-Bulik, N., Gurowiec, P. J., Michalska, P., & Kędra, E. (2021). Prevalence and predictors of secondary traumatic stress symptoms in health care professionals working with trauma victims: A cross-sectional study. PloS One, 16(2), Article e0247596. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0247596

    Sprang, G., Ford, J., Kerig, P., & Bride, B. (2018). Defining secondary traumatic stress and developing targeted assessments and interventions: Lessons learned from research and leading experts. Traumatology, 25(2), 72–81. http://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000180

    Sprang, G., & Steckler, Z. (2023). Traumatic stress symptom expression following indirect exposure: A multidisciplinary investigation. Traumatology, 29(2), 224–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000386

    Sprang, G., Whitt-Woosley, A., & Eslinger, J. (2022). Diagnostic and clinical utility of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Clinical Algorithm (STS-CA). Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 37(21–22), NP19811-NP19826. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605211044961

Topic Expert

Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) Prevention & Intervention Programs topic area was added in 2024. Ginny Sprang, PhD, was the topic expert and was involved in identifying and rating any of the programs with an original load date in 2024 (as found on the bottom of the program's page on the CEBC) or others loaded earlier and added to this topic area when it launched. The topic area has grown over the years and any programs added since 2024 were identified by CEBC staff, the Scientific Panel, and/or the Advisory Committee. For these programs, Dr. Sprang was not involved in identifying or rating them.

Topic Expert

Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) Prevention & Intervention Programs topic area was added in 2024. Ginny Sprang, PhD, was the topic expert and was involved in identifying and rating any of the programs with an original load date in 2024 (as found on the bottom of the program's page on the CEBC) or others loaded earlier and added to this topic area when it launched. The topic area has grown over the years and any programs added since 2024 were identified by CEBC staff, the Scientific Panel, and/or the Advisory Committee. For these programs, Dr. Sprang was not involved in identifying or rating them.

Programs

Community Resiliency Model

The Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® is a set of six biologically based wellness skills used for self-care that can be practiced by participants to stabilize emotions, ideally resulting in more adaptive thinking when facing emotional and physical distress. CRM's key aim is to inform individuals about the biological responses associated with trauma, stress, and resilience and to learn skills that aid in resetting and stabilizing the nervous system. CRM's six core skills -- Tracking, Resourcing, Grounding, Gesturing, Help Now!, and Shift and Stay -- can be taught through CRM Workshops or shared informally by “CRM Teachers” and “CRM Guides'' who have received training in its strategies. People trained may be professionals or natural leaders within communities, including teachers, ministers, healthcare workers, therapists, first responders, and lay persons. The skills are adaptable across different cultural and religious contexts, enhancing CRM’s accessibility and inclusiveness.

While CRM can be used with many different target populations, this entry is focused only on its use with professionals who work in trauma-exposed organizations or situations and experience secondary traumatic stress. The CEBC Scientific Rating is based on research articles with studies evaluating only this use.

Scientific Rating 3

Compassion-Focused Therapy for Secondary Traumatic Stress

Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) is an evolution-informed, biopsychosocial therapeutic approach that aims to help those who struggle with shame and self-criticism, which can result from experiences of abuse or neglect. CFT teaches clients to cultivate the skills of self-compassion and other-oriented compassion, and to build the courage and wisdom to address life’s difficulties and flourish. It utilizes psychoeducational concepts such as the three emotion regulation systems and understanding the ‘tricky brain,’ and guides participants through a range of mind-body practices. Clients and therapists collaborate on a set of therapeutic goals and tasks; formulation, assessment and therapeutic guidance are crucial.

Compassionate Mind Training (CMT) refers to the specific exercises that people practice in order to stimulate different systems in their brains, bodies, and social relationships. It is typically for nonclinical populations and may be used as a set of self-help exercises.

While the CEBC has only reviewed CFT for use with secondary traumatic stress, it can be used with non-caregiving adults, parents/caregivers, adolescents, and young adults to alleviate other symptoms.

Scientific Rating 3

Emotion-Focused Training for Helping Professionals

Developed in response to the growing need for an effective intervention to help professionals to reduce the increased incidence of compassion fatigue in helping professionals due to the corrosive impacts of pandemic COVID-19, the goal of Emotion-Focused Training for Helping Professionals (EFT-HP) is decreased levels of secondary traumatic stress, burnout or compassion fatigue and increased compassion satisfaction or resilience. EFT-HP is a 14-day online intervention. In summer 2024, there will be an app based on the program available at https://www.self-growth-institute.com/en/self-growth-institute-eng/

Scientific Rating 3

Mockingbird Family(TM)

Mockingbird FamilyTM is a foster care service delivery model designed to improve the safety, well-being, and permanency of children, adolescents, and families in foster care. Mockingbird Family is grounded in the assumption that families with access to resources and support networks are best equipped to provide a stable, loving, and culturally supportive environment for children and adolescents.

It revolves around the concept of the Mockingbird Family Constellation, which intentionally establishes a sense of extended family and community. In each Mockingbird Family Constellation, six to ten families (foster, kinship, foster-to-adopt, and/or birth families) live in close proximity to a central, licensed foster or respite care family (Hub Home), whose role is to provide support. The support provided through the Hub Home includes assistance in navigating systems, peer support for children and parents, impromptu and regularly scheduled social activities, planned respite nearly 24 hours a day/7 days a week, and crisis respite as needed.

Scientific Rating 3

Self-Compassion for Healthcare Communities

Self-Compassion Training for Healthcare Communities (SCHC), also known as Self-Compassion in Action, is a 6-hour healthcare adaptation of Mindful Self-Compassion. This training aims to improve well-being and personal resilience in healthcare professionals or other caring professionals (e.g., teachers, family caregivers, etc.) by teaching mindful self-compassion skills to deal with distressing emotional situations as they occur at work and at home.

Scientific Rating 3

CE-CERT

CE-CERT (Components for Enhancing Career Experience and Reducing Trauma) is a set of five skills and practices that support the well-being of providers in trauma-exposed environments. The practices are founded in diverse research related to maintaining emotion regulation, or returning to emotional homeostasis, after exposure to work-related stress. The skills described within the model, and coached during consultation, are:

  • Experiential engagement
  • Reducing rumination
  • Conscious narrative
  • Reducing emotional labor
  • Parasympathetic recovery

Implementation of CE-CERT includes training of the full team, additional one-day training for supervisors, and ten follow-on consultation calls to supervisors (and, optimally, to midlevel managers and senior leadership). The program has a defined manual that includes the fidelity indicators (known as MAPS, or must air points) for the training, content for follow-on consultation calls with supervisors and program leaders, requirements for trainers, and descriptions of the program and implementation process.

Scientific Rating NR

Resilience Alliance

Resilience Alliance is designed to mitigate secondary trauma symptoms experienced by child welfare staff, and secondary trauma's impact on unit and agency functioning. Participants are provided with information and tools to help them identify, better understand, and address the ways child welfare work affects them personally and professionally. The intervention has a strong focus on how secondary trauma influences organizational cohesion and functioning, which requires the participation of all levels of staff, including leadership.

Resilience Alliance is delivered in weekly group sessions, over a 24-week period. Each session includes a brief didactic lesson focusing on a particular resilience skill, an exercise that allows the group to practice implementing the skill, and a "take away" assignment that encourages participants to implement the skill in their daily work.

Scientific Rating NR

Resilience and Coping for the Healthcare Community

Resilience and Coping for the Healthcare Community (RCHC) is a program designed to address the unique psychological needs of disaster-affected healthcare and social service providers. RCHC is a group work intervention designed to mitigate postdisaster mental health distress and amplify resilience among disaster affected healthcare and social service providers. The desired outcomes of the program are to reduce secondary traumatic stress, posttraumatic stress, and generalized distress among these providers. The program also aims to increase social support and adaptive coping as a mechanism to reduce distress symptoms.

Scientific Rating NR

Resilience for Trauma-Informed Professionals

Resilience for Trauma-Informed Professionals is a training that introduces participants to techniques designed to promote resilience in the face of exposure to trauma-related material. Based on the existing evidence base regarding risk and protective factors for secondary traumatic stress, six core elements are targeted by the curriculum—appraisals, self-efficacy, emotional awareness, affect regulation, resilience, and prevention—as they are implemented across three stages: pre-exposure preparation, coping in the presence of trauma, and recovery in the aftermath of exposure.

Scientific Rating NR

Restoring Resiliency Response

The Restoring Resiliency Response (RRR) protocol is a crisis debriefing model developed for use with frontline workers in child protection and other social service fields following a critical incident, such as a child fatality or violence against staff while on the job. RRR sessions are designed to help alleviate stress and anxiety associated with secondary traumatic stress issues frontline workers face following a critical incident. Individual or group sessions are facilitated by trained clinicians within 48 to 72 hours after a critical incident. Sessions do not have an investigatory stance. Focus is placed on the stress reactions currently being experienced by workers and on an individual’s existing skills, strengths, and ability to utilize support systems and past coping techniques. Each session includes education about how trauma can affect individuals and employs cognitive behavioral therapy and relaxation techniques to enhance coping. Group sessions help to improve group cohesion by normalizing the idea that everyone experiences trauma differently and may be at a different place in terms of processing and full participation.

Scientific Rating NR

Sanctuary Model

The Sanctuary Model® is a blueprint for clinical and organizational change which, at its core, promotes safety and recovery from adversity through the active creation of a trauma-informed community. A recognition that trauma is pervasive in the experience of human beings forms the basis for the Sanctuary Model's focus not only on the people who seek services, but equally on the people and systems who provide those services. Sanctuary has been used in organizations that provide residential treatment for youth, juvenile justice programs, homeless and domestic violence shelters as well as a range of community-based, school-based and mental health programs.

Scientific Rating NR

Stress-Less Initiative

The Stress-Less Initiative (SLI) is a trauma-informed, organizational group model designed to improve individual wellness and team resilience by addressing risk and protective factors for secondary traumatic stress (STS). SLI is a team-based model embedded within the workplace and facilitated by an internal team member(s) to provide a safe context to address the impact of STS while increasing collegial support, coping strategies, and team cohesion. SLI works to address STS by rooting itself in the culture and practices of an organization. The intervention consists of 12 monthly, structured sessions, and includes STS assessment, psychoeducation around stress and traumatic stress, collaborative learning activities, processing of work challenges, and successes, and coping skills. Intrinsic to the model are practices that support its sustainability. After completing the initial 12 sessions, SLI ideally continues as an organizationally supported activity, thus sustaining its efficacy as an intervention for proactively managing STS within participating teams and programs.

Scientific Rating NR

Therapeutic Group Sessions

The Therapeutic Group Sessions (TGS) program addresses STS symptoms and increases resilience among child abuse pediatricians. TGS involves mandatory, monthly 90-minute small group sessions facilitated by a consistent mental health professional throughout the pediatric fellowship. Sessions included low intensity focusing activities, sharing impactful work-related experiences, mental health professional-led discussion of strategies and reflection on the session. The TGS program takes the responsibility off individuals for accessing supports and demonstrates the organization’s commitment to an important issue.

Scientific Rating NR

Programs

Community Resiliency Model

The Community Resiliency Model (CRM)® is a set of six biologically based wellness skills used for self-care that can be practiced by participants to stabilize emotions, ideally resulting in more adaptive thinking when facing emotional and physical distress. CRM's key aim is to inform individuals about the biological responses associated with trauma, stress, and resilience and to learn skills that aid in resetting and stabilizing the nervous system. CRM's six core skills -- Tracking, Resourcing, Grounding, Gesturing, Help Now!, and Shift and Stay -- can be taught through CRM Workshops or shared informally by “CRM Teachers” and “CRM Guides'' who have received training in its strategies. People trained may be professionals or natural leaders within communities, including teachers, ministers, healthcare workers, therapists, first responders, and lay persons. The skills are adaptable across different cultural and religious contexts, enhancing CRM’s accessibility and inclusiveness.

While CRM can be used with many different target populations, this entry is focused only on its use with professionals who work in trauma-exposed organizations or situations and experience secondary traumatic stress. The CEBC Scientific Rating is based on research articles with studies evaluating only this use.

Scientific Rating 3

Compassion-Focused Therapy for Secondary Traumatic Stress

Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) is an evolution-informed, biopsychosocial therapeutic approach that aims to help those who struggle with shame and self-criticism, which can result from experiences of abuse or neglect. CFT teaches clients to cultivate the skills of self-compassion and other-oriented compassion, and to build the courage and wisdom to address life’s difficulties and flourish. It utilizes psychoeducational concepts such as the three emotion regulation systems and understanding the ‘tricky brain,’ and guides participants through a range of mind-body practices. Clients and therapists collaborate on a set of therapeutic goals and tasks; formulation, assessment and therapeutic guidance are crucial.

Compassionate Mind Training (CMT) refers to the specific exercises that people practice in order to stimulate different systems in their brains, bodies, and social relationships. It is typically for nonclinical populations and may be used as a set of self-help exercises.

While the CEBC has only reviewed CFT for use with secondary traumatic stress, it can be used with non-caregiving adults, parents/caregivers, adolescents, and young adults to alleviate other symptoms.

Scientific Rating 3

Emotion-Focused Training for Helping Professionals

Developed in response to the growing need for an effective intervention to help professionals to reduce the increased incidence of compassion fatigue in helping professionals due to the corrosive impacts of pandemic COVID-19, the goal of Emotion-Focused Training for Helping Professionals (EFT-HP) is decreased levels of secondary traumatic stress, burnout or compassion fatigue and increased compassion satisfaction or resilience. EFT-HP is a 14-day online intervention. In summer 2024, there will be an app based on the program available at https://www.self-growth-institute.com/en/self-growth-institute-eng/

Scientific Rating 3

Mockingbird Family(TM)

Mockingbird FamilyTM is a foster care service delivery model designed to improve the safety, well-being, and permanency of children, adolescents, and families in foster care. Mockingbird Family is grounded in the assumption that families with access to resources and support networks are best equipped to provide a stable, loving, and culturally supportive environment for children and adolescents.

It revolves around the concept of the Mockingbird Family Constellation, which intentionally establishes a sense of extended family and community. In each Mockingbird Family Constellation, six to ten families (foster, kinship, foster-to-adopt, and/or birth families) live in close proximity to a central, licensed foster or respite care family (Hub Home), whose role is to provide support. The support provided through the Hub Home includes assistance in navigating systems, peer support for children and parents, impromptu and regularly scheduled social activities, planned respite nearly 24 hours a day/7 days a week, and crisis respite as needed.

Scientific Rating 3

Self-Compassion for Healthcare Communities

Self-Compassion Training for Healthcare Communities (SCHC), also known as Self-Compassion in Action, is a 6-hour healthcare adaptation of Mindful Self-Compassion. This training aims to improve well-being and personal resilience in healthcare professionals or other caring professionals (e.g., teachers, family caregivers, etc.) by teaching mindful self-compassion skills to deal with distressing emotional situations as they occur at work and at home.

Scientific Rating 3

CE-CERT

CE-CERT (Components for Enhancing Career Experience and Reducing Trauma) is a set of five skills and practices that support the well-being of providers in trauma-exposed environments. The practices are founded in diverse research related to maintaining emotion regulation, or returning to emotional homeostasis, after exposure to work-related stress. The skills described within the model, and coached during consultation, are:

  • Experiential engagement
  • Reducing rumination
  • Conscious narrative
  • Reducing emotional labor
  • Parasympathetic recovery

Implementation of CE-CERT includes training of the full team, additional one-day training for supervisors, and ten follow-on consultation calls to supervisors (and, optimally, to midlevel managers and senior leadership). The program has a defined manual that includes the fidelity indicators (known as MAPS, or must air points) for the training, content for follow-on consultation calls with supervisors and program leaders, requirements for trainers, and descriptions of the program and implementation process.

Scientific Rating NR

Resilience Alliance

Resilience Alliance is designed to mitigate secondary trauma symptoms experienced by child welfare staff, and secondary trauma's impact on unit and agency functioning. Participants are provided with information and tools to help them identify, better understand, and address the ways child welfare work affects them personally and professionally. The intervention has a strong focus on how secondary trauma influences organizational cohesion and functioning, which requires the participation of all levels of staff, including leadership.

Resilience Alliance is delivered in weekly group sessions, over a 24-week period. Each session includes a brief didactic lesson focusing on a particular resilience skill, an exercise that allows the group to practice implementing the skill, and a "take away" assignment that encourages participants to implement the skill in their daily work.

Scientific Rating NR

Resilience and Coping for the Healthcare Community

Resilience and Coping for the Healthcare Community (RCHC) is a program designed to address the unique psychological needs of disaster-affected healthcare and social service providers. RCHC is a group work intervention designed to mitigate postdisaster mental health distress and amplify resilience among disaster affected healthcare and social service providers. The desired outcomes of the program are to reduce secondary traumatic stress, posttraumatic stress, and generalized distress among these providers. The program also aims to increase social support and adaptive coping as a mechanism to reduce distress symptoms.

Scientific Rating NR

Resilience for Trauma-Informed Professionals

Resilience for Trauma-Informed Professionals is a training that introduces participants to techniques designed to promote resilience in the face of exposure to trauma-related material. Based on the existing evidence base regarding risk and protective factors for secondary traumatic stress, six core elements are targeted by the curriculum—appraisals, self-efficacy, emotional awareness, affect regulation, resilience, and prevention—as they are implemented across three stages: pre-exposure preparation, coping in the presence of trauma, and recovery in the aftermath of exposure.

Scientific Rating NR

Restoring Resiliency Response

The Restoring Resiliency Response (RRR) protocol is a crisis debriefing model developed for use with frontline workers in child protection and other social service fields following a critical incident, such as a child fatality or violence against staff while on the job. RRR sessions are designed to help alleviate stress and anxiety associated with secondary traumatic stress issues frontline workers face following a critical incident. Individual or group sessions are facilitated by trained clinicians within 48 to 72 hours after a critical incident. Sessions do not have an investigatory stance. Focus is placed on the stress reactions currently being experienced by workers and on an individual’s existing skills, strengths, and ability to utilize support systems and past coping techniques. Each session includes education about how trauma can affect individuals and employs cognitive behavioral therapy and relaxation techniques to enhance coping. Group sessions help to improve group cohesion by normalizing the idea that everyone experiences trauma differently and may be at a different place in terms of processing and full participation.

Scientific Rating NR

Sanctuary Model

The Sanctuary Model® is a blueprint for clinical and organizational change which, at its core, promotes safety and recovery from adversity through the active creation of a trauma-informed community. A recognition that trauma is pervasive in the experience of human beings forms the basis for the Sanctuary Model's focus not only on the people who seek services, but equally on the people and systems who provide those services. Sanctuary has been used in organizations that provide residential treatment for youth, juvenile justice programs, homeless and domestic violence shelters as well as a range of community-based, school-based and mental health programs.

Scientific Rating NR

Stress-Less Initiative

The Stress-Less Initiative (SLI) is a trauma-informed, organizational group model designed to improve individual wellness and team resilience by addressing risk and protective factors for secondary traumatic stress (STS). SLI is a team-based model embedded within the workplace and facilitated by an internal team member(s) to provide a safe context to address the impact of STS while increasing collegial support, coping strategies, and team cohesion. SLI works to address STS by rooting itself in the culture and practices of an organization. The intervention consists of 12 monthly, structured sessions, and includes STS assessment, psychoeducation around stress and traumatic stress, collaborative learning activities, processing of work challenges, and successes, and coping skills. Intrinsic to the model are practices that support its sustainability. After completing the initial 12 sessions, SLI ideally continues as an organizationally supported activity, thus sustaining its efficacy as an intervention for proactively managing STS within participating teams and programs.

Scientific Rating NR

Therapeutic Group Sessions

The Therapeutic Group Sessions (TGS) program addresses STS symptoms and increases resilience among child abuse pediatricians. TGS involves mandatory, monthly 90-minute small group sessions facilitated by a consistent mental health professional throughout the pediatric fellowship. Sessions included low intensity focusing activities, sharing impactful work-related experiences, mental health professional-led discussion of strategies and reflection on the session. The TGS program takes the responsibility off individuals for accessing supports and demonstrates the organization’s commitment to an important issue.

Scientific Rating NR