Law enforcement, service providers, and medical responders experience sustained exposure to child maltreatment, sexual assaults, and human trafficking. The resulting effects can be devastating and include substance abuse, increased rates of suicide, marital distress, depression and anxiety, and decreased physical wellness. This presentation will focus on learning more about vicarious trauma and gaining tools to assess our personal experience with vicarious trauma to improve our wellbeing. The presenter will differentiate between vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, burn out, moral suffering, and post-traumatic stress disorder to understand the impact high-stress work environments have on the wellbeing of those in the profession. Discussion regarding personal experiences, cultural changes within the workplace, and the normalization of vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue will be a main priority during this session. The presenter will include various resilience strategies to assist attendees in self-care routines, which also ensures less turnover and better services provided to the victims they serve.
Trigger Warning: This presentation contains information (written, spoken, or visual) that may be triggering or (re)traumatizing to attendees.
Melissa Kaiser is a consultant in the anti-trafficking field. She was the first Human Trafficking Navigator hired for North Dakota (ND) and contracted with the ND Human Trafficking Task Force. Melissa was employed with the Bureau of Criminal Investigation to assist in creating the integrated victim services and law enforcement program in ND. Melissa graduated with a bachelor’s degree in social work.