Creating Secondary Traumatic Stress-Informed Organizations

This is the second part of a three-part series that's being published in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network quarterly newsletter IMPACT. 

Part One of this series on STS (see IMPACT Summer 2013) emphasized the essential elements for creation of STS-informed organizations. Within this framework, child-serving agencies must deliberately build the capacity to provide workplace support for therapists who are at high risk for STS, said Leslie Anne Ross, PsyD, Vice President of the Leadership Center at Children’s Institute, Inc., Los Angeles. Ross, who is co-chair with Ginny Sprang, PhD, of the NCTSN Secondary Traumatic Stress Collaborative Group, said that to achieve this kind of support, agencies should conduct an organizational assessment of STS-informed practices; institute organizational training and supervision at every level; embed STS risk reduction and intervention strategies in human resources policies and procedures; and actively promote staff wellness and resilience. 

http://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/assets/pdfs/newsletters/impact_winter_2013.pdf