Working With Noncombatants—Vicarious or Secondary Trauma

Order Description

Vicarious trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder are closely related because the symptoms of each condition are similar. What distinguishes each condition from one another is how the trauma was experienced. For this Assignment, review Lt. Commander Malstrom’s experience (Attached PDF)with vicarious trauma in the media resources. As a starting point, think about how this individual who is trained military but a noncombatant could have mitigated his trauma. Using this as an example, complete the following assignment:

Scenario:

You are a helping professional assigned to a military installation and you are given the task of educating the following individuals (noncombatants) who are preparing to deploy in a combat zone on vicarious or secondary trauma:

1.Healthcare providers—military physicians and nurses
2.Air Force maintenance and logistics support personnel
3.Military reporters

Then provide the following:
?Describe how you would contextualize vicarious and secondary trauma.
?Describe risk factors of vicarious and secondary trauma.
?Identify strategies to avoid vicarious or secondary trauma.
?Explain how you might encourage support if someone experienced vicarious or secondary trauma.
?Describe the sensitivities a helping professional would need to have in order to work effectively with noncombatants.