ACCA Education in conjunction with Relationships Australia Victoria (RAVs) hosted another Vicarious Trauma workshop on Tuesday 21st March. Eager participants joined the online workshop and shared their experiences of dealing with bereaved client families and learnt about the impact that Vicarious Trauma can have on each of us if not identified and managed.
Each of the participants gained a greater awareness of how to effectively manage their own vicarious trauma and how to assist and support their colleagues when vicarious trauma may be affecting them.
This training workshop is proving to be one of the most sought-after training topics in our industry presently. It has been evidenced that those working in the cemeteries, crematoria, funeral and memorialisation sectors all experience differing levels of client contact and engagement, and listen to a variety of personal accounts of grief and bereavement. Whilst it could be said that listening to these personal accounts are ‘just part of the job’, it is through this engagement that vicarious trauma can be experienced by our colleagues and ourselves.
Learning how to identify and manage vicarious trauma is critical to ensuring that our staff remain healthy, and are adequately equipped to maintain the empathy and understanding that our bereaved communities expect from us.
