The role of the clinical supervisor in managing vicarious trauma and fostering vicarious post traumatic growth

Working with trauma survivors changes you. Trauma work has a personal impact that can affect the trauma worker’s perceptions of themselves, their relationships with others and their view of the world - recognised as... [ view full abstract ]

Working with trauma survivors changes you. Trauma work has a personal impact that can affect the trauma worker’s perceptions of themselves, their relationships with others and their view of the world - recognised as vicarious trauma. Trauma workers, and more frequently supervisors themselves, identify supervision as a protective factor against vicarious trauma. However, there is limited research on what actually happens in supervision and how this may be connected to efforts to reduce vicarious trauma. Additionally, studies find that trauma workers consistently identify both positive and negative impacts of the work yet the body of research on vicarious post-traumatic growth is relatively small. Cohen and Collens (2013) propose a model of the co-occurrence of vicarious trauma and vicarious post-traumatic growth based on a meta-analysis of 20 published qualitative studies of trauma workers’ experience. The model was examined through 11 semi-structured interviews with supervisors of refugee torture and trauma counsellors working in member agencies of the Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (FASSTT). The thematic analysis of the interviews identifies commonly used supervision processes and useful insights into the interplay of vicarious trauma and vicarious post-traumatic growth, extending the Cohen and Collens model. A striking result was the emphasis on looking for signs of growth and resilience within the client and the counselling process. The results of this study inform current and potential supervisors of useful supervision practice, supervisees of the potential support they can gain and inform organisational priorities for the structure of supervision.