(Download) "Training Students for a Shared Traumatic Reality (Practice Update) (Report)" by Social Work " eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Training Students for a Shared Traumatic Reality (Practice Update) (Report)
- Author : Social Work
- Release Date : January 01, 2008
- Genre: Social Science,Books,Nonfiction,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 176 KB
Description
A shared reality is a situation in which both the intervener and the client are exposed to a similar threat. In the wake of the recent increase in acts of terror and natural disasters, both clinical and research literature have been focusing greater attention on the problems of a shared reality and the implications for the helping professions (Gibson & Iwaniec, 2003; Howard & Goelitz, 2004; Shamai, 2003). Findings indicate that under these circumstances, therapists feel their ability to help is impaired and they experience heightened work-related stress as a result of greater demands on their professional time, the sense that they are professionally unprepared for the situation, and the loss of boundaries between their personal and professional selves (Kretch, Ben-Yakar, Baruch, & Roth, 1997; Nuttman-Shwartz, Karniel-Lauer, & Dassa-Shindler, 2004). Consequently, there is also increased awareness of the need to prepare helping professionals for shared reality situations. Two methods are most commonly suggested to achieve this goal: (1) working with supervisors to help them manage stress and re-establish and enhance their confidence in their professional and personal capabilities and (2) conducting training workshops with an emphasis on practical skills (Fournier, 2002; Shamai, 2003). Moreover, it has been found that the most vulnerable population is young professionals lacking in experience of intervention in conditions of stress and trauma, particularly those who have undergone similar events in the past (Cunningham, 2003; Kirchberg, Neimeyer, & James, 1998). One such group is students who not only lack thorough training and sufficient professional knowledge, but also have yet to acquire experience of their own responses to providing help. In most cases, the basic curriculum of undergraduate social work studies includes no more than a theoretical course on the nature and effects of trauma aimed at providing the necessary foundation (Cunningham, 2003). Although some of the students' fieldwork may include involvement with clients who have experienced a traumatic event, most students still lack clinical experience and familiarity with the ramifications of treatment and the helping relationship in such cases. These students do not have a clear understanding of the meaning of secondary traumatization or adequate coping strategies. In addition, their ability to enjoy the advantages of a safe space is limited, as they are constantly being judged and graded. In the case of a shared reality, the students also experience a high level of anxiety resulting from their exposure to the stressful events. These circumstances constrain their capacity to bolster each other by expressing empathy and providing support. Indeed, students have been found to display a tendency for isolation, scapegoating, and interpersonal distance (Cunningham, 1999, 2004; Neumann & Gamble, 1995). Yet despite the unique features of this population, a review of the literature on training models indicates that the significance of students' exposure to trauma has yet to receive sufficient attention (Gibson & Iwaniec, 2003).