Helping professionals are often the last to ask for help and may continue to work with depleted mental or physical resources.  Trauma is contagious with symptoms of burnout and vicarious trauma catching up with us slowly over time. 

Are you a helping professional experiencing:

Symptoms of Burnout such as 

  • low motivation or a sense of dragging yourself through the day.
  • chronic lateness or tiredness
  •  procrastination, job dissatisfaction, pessimism, cynicism or a loss of imagination for the future.
  • doubting your core beliefs
  • feelings of guilt, anger and irritability.
  • looking to numb feelings with unhealthy behaviours.

Symptoms of Vicarious trauma ( suffering trauma symptoms without first hand trauma) such as:

  • depression
  • insomnia
  • nightmares
  • anxiety
  • hypervigilant 
  • guilt for doing something bad; for not doing something good or for being OK when others are not. 

 

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a psychotherapy approach developed by Dr. Francine Shapiro to help people heal from trauma or adversities such as issues of abuse, bullying, domestic violence, grief/loss, attachment wounds, abandonment, PTSD, and many other complicated life issues. EMDR therapy is now validated as an evidence-based approach  both NICE UK and the WHO. It was rolled out as treatment of choice to front line NHS workers dealing with the COVID19 pandemic. 

One of the benefits with EMDR is that it is  an experiential therapy which brings about  positive changes in thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, beliefs, and sensory input without having to having to talk about or dwell on the traumatic memory. In this sense it can deliver results quickly and gently with the outcomes varying  from a simple reduction to a complete elimination of symptoms.