"I've had to bury a lot of kids over the years…": Violence prevention streetworkers' exposure to trauma.

Abstract

Streetworkers are front-line workers employed to engage at-risk youth and prevent, intervene, and respond to incidents of community youth violence. Streetworkers are often exposed to violence and its aftermath, though little is known about the specific types of trauma to which streetworkers are exposed. This study seeks to explore this question via in-depth, semistructured interviews with 37 streetworkers from a large city in the United States. The qualitative results revealed that the streetworkers in this sample experienced a range of types of trauma. Streetworkers were less likely to be directly exposed to traumatic events in the context of their jobs, yet were more likely to witness, learn about, or experience repeated exposure to aversive details of traumatic events. Despite their exposure to trauma, very few participants described seeking psychological treatment, self-care, or new vocation. We discuss our findings and make recommendations to bolster support for streetworkers.