Safe Ships Linda Robb Social Work Consultant Kate

Safe Ships Linda Robb, Social Work Consultant Kate Black, Clinical Psychologist www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Safe Ships: Aims • To provide a forum to reflect on the professional experience of bearing witness to distressing and violent events • To consider how supportive structures can be implemented at individual, team and organisational levels www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Safe Ships: Outline • Rationale • Risks within the professional role • Safety within the professional role (strategies and systems) • Reflection and planning www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Safe Ships: Rationale Vs www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Safe Ships: Rationale www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Safe Ships: Professional Role How well do we look after ourselves within our professional role? 0 100 Abysmally Amazingly www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Professional role: risks • Emotions are contagious • Those we work with can “hitch a ride home with us” and become visitors to our non-work roles “As helping professionals, our emotions are vulnerable to provocation through infection with our clients’ feelings. Sometimes this is an advantage, helping us to feel inside their worlds. At other times, it is not advantageous to be infected by a client’s state. . Does the same tool that facilitates our understanding of our clients also threaten our wellbeing at times? The short answer is yes. ” Rothschild, 2006 www. cycj. org. uk developing, supporting & understanding youth justice

Professional role Thoughts, beliefs triggered Thoughts, beliefs trigged Feelings WORKER EVENT Feelings Bodily response www. cycj. org. uk YP justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Professional role: risks Working directly with people that have experienced trauma can impact on our emotions, our relationships and our view of the world: Compassion fatigue - a general term applied to anyone who suffers as a result of undertaking a helping role Vicarious Traumatisation - negative changes in workers’ thoughts regarding trust, safety, power, independence, self-esteem and intimacy as a result of contact with traumatised clients. Secondary Traumatisation -when workers start to experience symptoms of PTSD, as a direct consequence of their engagement with traumatised clients rather than a result of their own traumas. Burnout - more general term referring to the emotional exhaustion, demoralisation and feelings of ineffectiveness caused by demanding work environments. This can vary from needing an extra day off work, to experiencing a high degree of dysfunction with the professional role. www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Professional role • How do we protect the safety of our emotional, psychological and physical well being when faced with upsetting and frightening narratives on a frequent basis? • How do we maintain and/or refuel our empathy and compassion, especially when working with young people who may present high risks, reject our support, or who are indifferent to our support? www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Professional Role: Safety www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Professional Role: Safety www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Professional role: safety systems • Various models of reflective practice • Use of reflective practice and/or external consultants for complex cases (Quality Standard for the health and well being of looked after children and young people, NICE, 2013; National Guidance for the External Management of Residential Childcare Establishments in Scotland, 2013) • Also evidence building for therapeutic models that are based on reflection as the key skill for staff (e. g. AMBIT) • Specific systems designed for individuals who are at particular risk of exposure to violence or harm within their professional role (e. g. “Debriefing” & “Defusing”) www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Professional Role: safety systems • Debriefing originally designed as an intervention for those exposed to traumatic or stressful events as part of their occupational roles (Adler, Castro & Mc. Gurk 2009) • Model for supporting staff after a specific incident • Use of these models has been considered controversial in the past • Used within the Metropolitan Police, Royal Marines and parts of the UK prison service www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Professional Role: safety systems • Some studies show that post incident support offered to staff on a group basis can be helpful with respect to: • • • Reducing anxiety Reducing depression Reducing post traumatic stress symptoms after 1 month Reducing levels of alcohol misuse Staff satisfaction with support (Ruck et al 2013, Healy & Tyrrell, 2013, Deahl et al 2001, Adler, 2008) www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Professional Role: Safety Systems Studies suggest that post incident support can be helpful when offered under following conditions: - “opt-in” basis - shortly after incidents - pre-established occupational groups - using educational models - provision of appropriate supervision - pre-established safe environment www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Reflection and Planning www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Safe Ships In groups, consider your professional role, your young people, the team you work with, and your service/organisation. What compartments of the ship are full and at risk of flooding? What strategies or systems might be helpful within your individual role/team/ service/organisation? www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

Questions/comments/reflections www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

References I • Looking After Yourself: Working with people who have experienced trauma Trauma and Homelessness Team, Carswell House NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde • Golding, K S; Hughes, D A (2012) Creating Loving Attachments Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London • Golding, K S (2008) Nurturing Attachments: Supporting Children who are Fostered or Adopted Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London • Rothschild, B, Rand, M (2006) Help for the Helper: The Psychophysiology of Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Trauma Norton & Company, New York • http: //www. childtraumaacademy. com/ • http: //www. annafreud. org/training-research/training-andconferences-overview/training-at-the-anna-freud-centre/ambitmulti-team-training/ www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth

References II • Ardino, V (2012) Offending Behaviour: the role of trauma and PTSD, European Journal of Psychotraumatology , 3: 18968 • Cloitre, M, Cohen, L R, Koenen, K C (2006) Treating survivors of childhood abuse: Psychotherapy for the interrupted life. The Guildford Press, New York • Herman, J (1992) Trauma and Recovery: From domestic abuse to political terror. Pandora, London • Perry, B D (1997) Incubated in Terror: Neurodevelopmental factors in the ‘cycle of violence’ In: Children, Youth and Violence: The Search for Solutions (J Osofsky, Ed. ) Guilford Press, New York, pp 124 -1488 • Rothschild, B (2010) 8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery: Take-charge strategies to empower your healing. WW Norton, New York • Rothschild, B (2000) The Body Remembers: The Psychophysiology of Trauma and Trauma Treatment, WW Norton & Company Ltd, New York www. cycj. org. uk justice developing, supporting & understanding youth