Addressing Vicarious Trauma in the Legal Profession through a Webinar-Based Format

Abstract

Objective: This article describes a multiple session training on vicarious trauma which were delivered to groups of professionals (N = 2 to 24) working as legal advocates for domestic violence, elder abuse victims and adults in long term care. Hypothesis: Addressing vicarious trauma of legal professionals through a webinar-based format will lower trauma exposure responses and lead to better self-care and well-being. Methods: The training participants were mostly lawyers employed with legal aid and state entities and were regularly exposed to details of traumatic experiences of their clients. They also experienced challenges in dealing with systems that may not be acting in their client’s best interests. Many of the participants were working with less than adequate resources. The training took place mainly over video conference and addressed issues such as: understanding neurobiology of trauma, providing trauma-informed services, vicarious trauma, assessing professional quality of life, exploring one’s trauma exposure response, and developing adequate self-care strategies. To evaluate the program a mixed method, post-test survey was conducted via Survey Monkey (N = 16) that assessed the level of trauma exposure response before and after the training, the likelihood of engaging in self-care strategies, and qualitative data was used to evaluate the relevance of various training topics. Results: Results indicated a statistically significant reduction in trauma exposure response, willingness to engage in several types of self-care, and specific suggestions for their organization to engage in further Trauma Stewardship activities. Conclusion: Using a webinar-based format was an effective approach to addressing vicarious trauma in legal professionals. A detailed description of the training will be provided and suggestions for ongoing education on trauma stewardship, vicarious trauma, trauma exposure response, and self-care strategies will be offered.