I feel like I could give an entire talk on the subject of setting limits. It’s particularly relevant today, because it’s Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, and I am working. In fact, I don’t know when the last time was that I took the High Holidays off. When you work for yourself, the reality is that you could simply always be working. What’s more, I really love the work I do. But taking care of yourself is not optional. And for me that means setting limits.
The Institute on Urban Health Research and Practice at Northeastern University is accepting applications for programs to pilot their Vicarious Trauma Toolkit. It’s geared toward victim assistance providers, law enforcement officers, fire fighters and emergency medical services providers; if you think your program would be a good pilot site, check out the details here. Submissions must be received by October 22nd.
April is both Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month: two issues central to many of our practices, both of which can take a serious toll on clinicians. It seems like compassion fatigue (and its sisters, vicarious trauma and burnout) don’t get nearly enough attention in our professional circles. But really, they should–a recent study found that 85% of emergency department nurses surveyed reported moderate to high levels of compassion fatigue. I’d be interested in what the results would look like if they surveyed a group of forensic clinicians.