Template: Responding to vicarious trauma

What you will find in this resource: 

This template was created by Nicola Laurent and Kirsten Wright as part of a project funded through the ICA Programme Commission funding. It was developed in conjunction with the Section for Archival Education and Training (SAE) as a response to the recommendations of the report Understanding the international landscape of trauma and archives. 

This template has been developed to provide basic information about archives and vicarious trauma for people working in archives and other memory organisations. It has been designed for organisations to personalise, to suit their specific situations and staff and volunteer needs.  

Most sections of the template provide general information and do not need to be edited. The section titled “Support and resources available at this ” is designed to be customised to the support and frameworks available at your organisation and that are locally accessible.  

Some examples of support and resources you may want to list in this section include:  

• Training – can be specific to archives but many mental health organisations offer training in vicarious trauma.  
• Employee Assistance Programme – provide details of how staff can access this for your organisation 
• Local crisis support lines – a list of international crisis support lines can be found here, and there may be other local lines you are aware of 
• Counselling – provide details of any counselling available or if people can contact someone to get details of how to access counselling 
• Peer support networks – list any internal to your organisation and external communities  
• Policies – provide details of any policies your organisation has developed around staff safety, wellbeing and vicarious trauma, noting that these can be linked to occupational health and safety frameworks 
• Reporting – describe the process for staff and volunteers to report any incidents regarding vicarious trauma or exposure to distressing materials 
• Statement – develop a statement regarding your organisation’s support of staff and volunteers enacting self-care plans, and that it is acceptable and expected for people to undertake self-care on work time. 

This is not an exhaustive list of what organisations can do to support staff and volunteers regarding vicarious trauma. Minimisation and preventative actions should also occur during recruitment and induction processes, with information provided about potentially distressing materials and the supports available from initial steps of engagement with the organisation. 

Languages:

• English