Vicarious Trauma

Vicarious trauma is the result of what can happen to individuals or teams while providing services to survivors of trafficking and other high-trauma environments. It can present in a variety of symptoms and doesn’t affect everyone the same. It occurs from being repeatedly exposed to other’s trauma.

It is easy to get lost in our passions to help, serve, support and advocate. However, without the proper balance our efforts can have negative consequences for our personal lives and the quality of services we’re able to provide.

This presentation will cover what vicarious trauma is and how it shows up, how to prevent it on an individual level, and the responsibility organizations have to mitigate it’s effects on their employees.

About the Presenter:

Mary Bull began her career in the cancer biotech field in San Diego as a research assistant. She made the leap to join the anti-trafficking movement after learning how prevalent and nuanced it is. Since then, she has completed her MPH at Boston University with a focus on Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation, and Evaluation. Mary is now employed with TAC as a Research Coordinator for E-Course Development. She is passionate about debunking myths in the anti-trafficking movement and educating about the importance of evaluation.