Description: What does it mean, and what does it cost, to make a complaint? This question is at the heart of Sara Ahmed’s research into institutional power and forms the basis of this lecture. Ahmed has embarked on a new research project, outside institutional academia, that was sparked by the bruising experience of trying to improve the university’s complaints process. Her new study, drawing on oral and written testimony from dozens of complainants, has much to teach us about the structures and mechanisms of institutional power. It’s a timely topic during this moment of reinvigorated feminism and reports of systemic harassment on Australian university campuses.
CONTENT WARNING: Some of the case studies involve descriptions of sexual harrasment and sexual assault.
What's the evidence base for this resource: In 2016 the acclaimed British-Australian academic resigned from her prestigious post as Professor of Race and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. Her resignation was in protest against the university’s failure to address the problem of sexual harassment. This lecture presents findings from her subsequent ongoing research with people who have made complaints in University settings.
Potential uses and limitation: While Ahmed's research focussed on Universities, the themes are relevant to any large institutions that involve hierarchical structures and power imbalances between staff members. It raises crucial questions about the limitations and pitfalls of institutional complaint mechanisms, and how the person raising the complaint is often let down or, worse, targetted for further mistreatment.
Where it comes from: Lecture presented at the Wheeler Centre, Melbourne 2018.
Description
Written for women working in anti-violence fields (e.g. domestic violence, child abuse, sexual assault). Uses a strong gender lens and the specific challenges for women workers in these fields.
What's the evidence base for this resource
Based on the author's 8 months of consultations with expert workers in the sector, the Canadian National Advisory Committee on Family Violence. The author was contracted by the Centre for Research on Violence Against Women and Children in London, Ontario, The University of Western Ontario, to produce this report for the Family Violence Prevention Unit, Health Canada.
Potential uses and limitations
The resource is intended for women workers in anti-violence work. Some of the content is also quite specific to the Canadian context. Also note that the publication date is 2001.
Covers topics ranging from individual self-care practices, to organisational strategies. The uniquely feminist perspective, with an emphasis on gender and social justice, sets this apart from many other trauma related resources. The section on organisational strategies includes sections on:
Feminist Philosophy
Social Justice
Organizational Structure
Staffing
Human Resources Policies and Practices
Training
Administrative and Support Staff
Hiring
Orientation and Training
Personal Relationships of Staff
Supervision
Retreats and Celebrations
Exiting Gracefully
Where it comes from
Published by National Clearinghouse on Family Violence, Canada. Some of the content does apply specifically to the Canadian context.
Description: A collection of Resources to challenge Gender-Based Violence in the workplace.
Includes information sheets, videos, industrial resources and training resources that can be used in your workplace.
https://saferespectfulworkplaces.com/
What's the evidence base for this resource: Based on the experience of union organisers who have fought for action and change on gender based violence in Australian workplaces. The training resources are developed by union trainers, who are continually revising the material based on feedback from workers in training sessions and current best practice.
Potential uses and limitations: Useful where gender based violence has been identified as a problem in a workplace. Can be used to initiate discussions, deliver training, or organise for industrial change (for example, having gender based violence recognised in workplace agreements). Union delegates and HSRs may find these resources particularly useful.
Where it comes from: Victorian Trades Hall.
Description: This set of Supervisory Guides provides advice on creating trauma informed workplaces that are disability inclusive for both staff and clients.
The four themes covered are:
Part 1: Hiring
Part 2: Onboarding New Staff
Part 3: Supervision
Part 4: Supporting Staff with Boundaries and Safety
Downloadable from the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center website.
What's the evidence base for this resource: These are practice based resources, developed from the experiences of partner organisations.
Potential uses and limitation: They are best used along with in-person, interactive training to allow executive leadership, human resources, and supervisors the opportunity to practice skills and discuss challenges and ideas with each other. Particularly helpful to support supervisors prepare for conversations about both accessibility and vicarious trauma with new staff members.
Where it comes from: US based coalition MASS (Movement for Access, Safety & Survivors),
Description: This series of video presentations critiques the notions of 'burnout' and 'vicarious trauma'. Instead, Dr Reynolds suggests 'spiritual pain' as a more accurate term to describe what happens when workers are faced with the effects that oppression has on the lives of clients. She argues that the key question for workers and organisations is not 'how is your mental health?', but rather 'how are we treating each other?'
Dr Reynolds has also written about her approach to 'centring ethics' in supervision to explore the harms experienced by workers in this article which she has made freely available through her website.
Dr Vikki Reynolds is an activist/therapist who works to bridge the worlds of social justice activism with community work & therapy.
What's the evidence base for this resource: Dr Reynold's
experience includes supervision and therapy with refugees and survivors
of torture, sexualized violence counsellors, mental health and substance
misuse counsellors, housing and shelter workers, activists and working
alongside gender and sexually diverse communities.
Potential uses and limitation: Provides a perspective on "vicarious trauma" that challenges clinical, symptom focused frameworks. Useful for workplaces that place ethical considerations at the centre of their work, to think about how teams and organisations can develop effective practices of collective care and accountability.
Where it comes from: Dr Vikki Reynolds' professional development presentation for the BC Settlement and Language Service Providers' Provincial Meeting hosted by AMSSA, 2017.
Description: A special edition of a journal with a range of short articles related to Vicarious Trauma, Secondary Traumatic Stress etc.
Table of Contents
Overview
Helping that Hurts: Child Welfare Secondary Traumatic Stress Reactions, Charles R. Figley, PhD 4
Occupational
Hazards of Work in Child Welfare: Direct Trauma, Secondary Trauma and
Burnout, Kimberly K. Shackelford, PhD, LCSW 6
Secondary Traumatic Stress and Supervisors: The Forgotten Victims, Crystal Collins-Camargo, MSW, PhD 8
The Vicious Cycle: Policy, the Media, and Secondary Traumatic Stress, David Chenot, PhD, MDiv, LCSW 10
Media Influence on Development of Secondary Traumatic Stress in Child Welfare Workers, Kate Richardson, Dip SW, BA 11
Secondary Traumatic Stress in Child Welfare: Multi-Level Prevention and Intervention Strategies, Alison Hendricks, LCSW 12
Vicarious Traumatization and Work in Child Welfare Organizations: Risk, Prevention, and Intervention, Joy D. Osofsky, PhD 14
Best Practices
Preparing MSW Students for Practicing in Child Welfare, Ronald Rooney, PhD 15
Withstanding Secondary Traumatic Stress: The Role of Realistic Recruitment, Nancy S. Dickinson, MSSW, PhD 16
Screening for Secondary Traumatic Stress in Child Welfare Workers, Brian E. Bride, PhD, LCSW 18
A
Psychoeducation Model for Teaching Child Welfare Practitioners to Dump
Their Secondary Traumatic Stress Buckets, Josephine Pryce, PhD, MSW 19
What Can Child Welfare Workers Do about Vicarious Trauma?, Laurie Anne Pearlman, PhD 20
Social Support in the Workplace and Secondary Trauma, Anita P. Barbee, MSSW, PhD 21
Going
Beyond Self Care: Effectively Addressing Secondary Traumatic Stress
Among Child Protective Staff, Erika Tullberg, MPA, MPH, Roni Avinadav,
PhD and Claude M. Chemtob, PhD 22
The Secondary Trauma
Prevention Project: A Multilevel Systems Approach to Protect Child
Welfare Staff from Secondary Trauma, David Conrad, LCSW 23
Developing,
Continuously Improving, and Disseminating Culturally-Appropriate
Workplace Policies to Prevent and Mitigate Secondary Traumatic Stress
among Child Welfare Workers, James C. Caringi, PhD and Hal A. Lawson,
PhD 24
Perspectives & Collaborations
What's the evidence base for this resource: Peer reviewed journal.
Potential uses and limitations: Focused on child protection/welfare but much of the content has broader relevance.
Some articles include descriptions of organisational interventions. These are free to access academic articles, they are mostly written in a way that is relatively accessible to non-academic workers in the field.
Where it comes from: Link to journal (free to access via the US VTT site):
https://vtt.ovc.ojp.gov/ojpasset/Documents/OS_STS_Child_Welfare_Article_Review.pdf
Description: A clearly described set of communication principles aimed at promoting transparency and shared power in decision making.
What's the evidence base for this resource: Based on practice experience/wisdom the organisation. The guidelines are explicitly based on an
ethical commitment to respectful communication, rather than a positivist
evidence based or clinical approach.
Potential uses and limitations: A simple, useful guide where communication from leadership, or within teams, is identified as a problem.
Where it comes from: Developed by the Vermont Network Against Domestic and Sexual Violence .
The guidelines have been made available by the US VTT site