Vicarious Trauma Workshop
For researchers whose work engages them with the traumatic experiences of others
Maureen Freed will deliver this workshop in person on Thursday 16 November 2023 9.30am-4.30pm.
Event details
The Vicarious Trauma Workshop is designed for researchers whose work engages them with the traumatic experiences of others. It aims to help researchers reduce the risk of vicarious traumatisation and manage the exceptional emotional and psychological demands this kind of research can place on them.
Since 2016, the Vicarious Trauma Workshop has been offered termly to DPhil students within the Social Sciences Division, where it attracts researchers working on topics including genocide, mass displacement of populations, gender-based violence, and a wide range of issues involving fieldwork in conflict and post-conflict zones. The workshop has also been offered in the Department of Geography to researchers investigating impacts of climate change, destruction of habitats and extinction of species, and to medical researchers engaged in exploring experiences of illness, disability and death.
We are pleased to announce that, in the coming academic year, the Vicarious Trauma Workshop will be offered for the first time to all University staff. We warmly encourage any researcher whose work entails sustained engagement with traumatised others to consider participating in this workshop. Researchers can attend before, during and/or after fieldwork. Those not engaged in fieldwork but who are exposed to the traumatic experiences of others via documents, recorded material and/or data may also find the workshops helpful.
The workshop aims to give researchers:
- a deeper understanding of the process of vicarious traumatisation and how it relates to individual research
- awareness of a range of strategies to prevent and mitigate impact of vicarious trauma exposure
- tools and techniques from the trauma therapist toolkit to maintain personal and professional wellness
Workshop content is as follows:
Morning: (9:30 am – 1 pm) Introduction to Vicarious Trauma: what it is, how it typically develops, signs and symptoms to watch for, and 5 broad strategies to prevent VT and mitigate its effects when it occurs.
Lunch is not provided. Please bring your own or use the SBS catering facilities.
Afternoon: (2 – 4:30pm) Practical tools and techniques: cultivating awareness of sympathetic nervous system arousal; practical tools to reduce sympathetic nervous system arousal and mitigate stress/disturbance in the present; techniques from the trauma psychotherapist toolkit to enable you to process traumatic experiences effectively on your own.
For more information about the workshop, please do have a look at the following documents:
About the speaker
Maureen Freed is a UPCA and UKCP-accredited counsellor and psychotherapist with a particular interest in trauma—how individuals are affected by it, and how they can overcome it. Until recently she was Deputy Head of the Oxford University Counselling Service, where she worked for nearly 20 years and where, in 2016, she led the development of a specialist trauma clinic. She is currently Scholar Mental Health Adviser for the Rhodes Trust; teaches the clinical component of the Psychodynamic Studies Masters Programme at Oxford University; and is a psychotherapist in private practice where she specialises in working with academics and others whose work presents exceptional emotional and psychological demands.
Audience
The Workshop has clear relevance to research contexts including conflict, genocide, natural disaster, domestic violence, imprisonment, sexual abuse, and displacement, and is open to researchers working in these and other challenging contexts. The number of participants is limited at 14.
Location
Andrew Cormack Seminar Room, East Wing, Saïd Business School, Park End Street, Oxford OX1 1HP (Google maps)
Please report to reception on arrival and you will be directed from there.
Accessibility
Full building accessibility information can be found here.
Contact
For event enquiries, please contact wellbeing@admin.ox.ac.uk.
