Resilience and Support | Navigating Vicarious Trauma in Trust and Safety

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Hi folks, I hope you’re doing well and here from Zevo Health. Thank you so much for joining me today on our.

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a webinar around the topic of vicarious trauma.

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anybody that’s working in the industry of trust and safety, anybody that’s working as a content moderator or working with content moderators, the topic of vicarious trauma is one that’s really, really important one to be aware of.

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of, first of all, it’s something that it’s really important for us to.

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have an understanding of it and to recognize it as a potential impact of engaging with graphic and disturbing content as part of your everyday life.

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role. So there will be various aspects of the theme of vicarious trauma that we will work through. It is something that is heavy in nature, the experience of it, the impact of it, but it is one

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It’s a reality that it can be a potential impact of engaging in this.

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kind of work and given the unique nature of the role of content moderator, it is something that makes more sense for us to be fully aware of all the implications, fully aware of the

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the potential negative outcomes and the potential negative impact of the kind of

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work that a content moderator will be engaged with. And what we want to do by addressing something like vicarious trauma, we want to safeguard. So we want to be mindful, we want to be proactive, we want to be aware of the context.

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of the lived experience of some

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that’s working in content moderation. So whether that is yourself, who’s in a role of content moderator, whether you are managing a team of people that are engaged in this kind of work, it’s always gonna be very beneficial. It’s always gonna be very important for us to be informed, to be educated around topics such as this.

So by way of introduction, first things first, Zevo Health, we are committed to supporting you on your journey towards improved health and wellbeing. It is important for us to say that the trainings that we provide, they are high quality information, they’re supplemented by useful tools, practices, and behaviour change strategies.

It’s important to note that naturally our content and recommendations are general in nature. They cannot and do not address specific individual requirements that may apply. Our content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

And of course, please, please, please, with any kinds of questions or concerns, please seek the advice of medical professionals. So what we’re gonna work on today is understanding the impact of vicarious trauma or VT. I will refer to it as vicarious trauma or VT. We’ll have a look at signs and symptoms.

We’ll have a look at different styles of coping and ways then that we can support ourselves, ways that we can support staff from an organisational perspective. So we’ll break it down first.

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things first and we’ll have a look at various definitions and explanations of vicarious trauma and all parts of it.

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The drama itself is a disturbing experience that can result in various ways of it manifesting for us so fear helplessness dissociation confusion, anything that that disrupts our emotional well being anything that disrupts our quality of life.

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and it has a long-lasting negative effect on how we move in the world and when we think of

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the definition of vicarious. So that’s something that is experienced in place of another person. So it is an experience that’s acting or serving as a substitute and something whereby we feel an imagined participation in the experience of others.

So if you’ve ever heard of the phrase I’m living vicariously through you, I would say it, to people in my life that have a better social life than me, you know, and it is a common phrase. It is something that we hear a lot to be living vicariously through somebody else.

So if we take this information that’s familiar to us and we apply it within a professional setting and we apply it within our own lived experience when it workplace, we can tend to retain a lot of the meaning that we learn.

So to look at a phrase like that, living vicariously through somebody else, it means that we are having the same or similar experience as them, even though we are living a different life, even though we are holding our own individual separate experiences.

So if we take that information that we’re getting from that, the definition of vicarious, and we couple it with what we know and what we are learning about the definition of trauma, it is something that we experience on behalf of somebody else.

So it is a process of change or an experience or impact of trauma that we can hold, that we can internalize, that we can contain because of something that we are seeing, something that we are hearing, something that we are witness to in some shape or form, but it’s not directly happening to us.

It’s something that can come about when we are looking at graphic content, when we are seeing people in situations that will feel disturbing, if we are seeing people in distress or if there’s any kind of pain or violence.

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and we have a sense of commitment.

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or a sense of responsibility to help them. So this is something that can come about when we are indirectly experiencing this repeatedly, okay? So we are indirectly experiencing something, I guess,

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again and again and again and again.

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it can happen if we are having this repeated experience and we’re not looking after ourselves. So we’re not putting in place those safeguarding processes, we’ll discuss them in more detail later on, but that idea of looking after ourselves, recognizing signs and symptoms, self-care, gaining and getting support from those around us.

So if we are exposed to something that’s very disturbing, very distressing and we are exposed to it over an extensive period of time and we’re not addressing the situation or the situation is not being addressed.

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that can potentially lead to

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an experience of vicarious trauma. So it can lead to changes in our own lives. I’ve mentioned about the change in our emotional well-being and our quality of life when it comes to trauma in general, so that vicarious trauma can show up in lots of different ways. So we might sense or experience a change with our well-being in a holistic sense.

So for example, we might have very affected or changed opinions or views of the world, of the people around us, of ourselves. Our values and beliefs might be shaken or there might be a destructive nature to that and our feelings of safety. It all comes back to that need for safety and our human drive for safety and anything that

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that in a negative way, anything that impacts that in a negative way.

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way it has that knock-on effect to our emotional well-being and like I say that quality of life as well. So when we’re talking about vicarious trauma really important for us to look at empathy and not only the role of empathy let’s say in our lives but in our workplace setting as well.

So if we’re thinking about the definition of empathy it’s our ability to identify with somebody else’s experience to understand what’s going on for them with regard to their their joy, their pain, other parts of the experience. And another well-known phrase around empathy would be putting myself in someone else’s shoes.

So relating to somebody’s experience through our ability to tap into our empathy. Now to be empathetic is a wonderful quality. It’s important for us to have empathy and to grow empathy as well because you know not only is there that human drive for safety that’s part of our emotional well-being but our ability to connect as well.

So the idea of acceptance, belonging, connecting, community all of these things are innate in us as humans as well.

So you know for us to be able to engage in the work of content moderation you know at the back of it at the core of it there is that purpose and that meaning of it in order to make a difference in order to be able to gain control of something positive and to be able to consistently put that good out into the world.

So empathy is a huge part of that and at the same time empathy has a huge part of vicarious trauma as well because if we are empathizing with somebody that we are seeing or witnessing in a distressing experience that can have a knock-on effect to us.

It’s not that we need to change who we are it’s just that we need to be aware of all of these different parts of the experience and to link it in with managing our situation, managing our experience and being kind to ourself within that.

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as well.

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Okay. So if you have had an experience of vicarious trauma, if you are looking at who you are within your role, whether that’s the work, the responsibilities that you have, or whether it’s your place within the collective of the organization that you’re working for. You know, there can be different things that we are telling ourselves our inner critic can get very loud as well.

So it’s good for us to kind of deconstruct these myths or to spell them for ourselves to get realistic, but by being realistic, we’re being more fair and compassionate with ourselves. So perhaps we might tell ourselves, okay, well, all I need to do is just to work harder. And then I won’t experience vicarious trauma, or maybe I need to hold better boundaries. Maybe I need to compartmentalize.

Maybe I can separate my working life from my personal life. And I feel as if I shouldn’t get involved or I don’t get involved. Maybe we are telling ourselves, okay, well, it just won’t happen to me. Or maybe we are holding ourselves up to an unrealistic standard by saying, well, if I’m professional enough, I won’t experience it.

You know, if we look at something, especially that last statement there, we’re looking at something like that. And we are holding that expectation for ourselves that if I am professional, I won’t experience it. So what happens then, if we do experience it, we go into that territory then of maybe telling ourselves that we’re not professional.

Maybe we might start telling ourselves that we’re not good enough, that we are not able to do the work that we have intended to do. The reality of the situation is that we’re human, you know? So really, really important for us to be mindful of that, to allow ourselves to be human. And it sounds very simple. It sounds maybe silly the way that I’m saying it.

But it is something that we need to return to at all times, that we’re human, and that we will sometimes have human responses to things. Okay, so different things that we look for then with regard to risk factors around vicarious trauma would be, what is our current context? And that can encompass a lot of different things.

So different stressors that we’re holding now, whether it is things that are happening in our personal life. Maybe there are different things that are coming up for us by way of stressful experiences overall. We need to factor in everything when it comes to looking at our own situation right now. It’s like taking a snapshot of everything that is happening for us right now.

You can’t leave anything out. All the different parts of my experience have a part to play in.

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how I react to things and how I’m impacted by things.

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To look at our coping strategies, now we don’t need to be judgmental with these, we don’t need to give ourselves a hard time for, let’s say, having different coping strategies that may have worked at some point, but may not work for ourselves right now or might be kind of unhealthy for us. Looking at our personal history.

So looking at what our story is, where we are coming from, what our lived experiences have been up to date. You know what I mean? My story is going to be different from the next person and the next person because I have lived a unique individual life. So I will have experienced things that are individual to me, but I’ll carry these things so we can’t leave any of that stuff out.

Different risk factors as well could be social support or a lack of social support or engaging in social support that might be unhealthy for us. And of course it’s going to be down to what our role is, what kind of responsibilities do we have, what does our day look like? So what kind of content are we exposed to? What’s the duration of it?

And linking all of these pieces together, they’re all parts of a bigger puzzle. So it’s important for us to observe this stuff, to be curious about it, but not to jump to conclusions within it either. So not to get stuck or get caught in one part and start to give ourselves a hard time over it.

You know, we’re looking at this as information that we’re going to take forward in order to look after ourselves and in order to maintain that routine of looking after ourselves as well. So I’d mentioned coping mechanisms there. Again, nothing that we need to be judgmental towards ourselves around. We’re looking at what’s there.

We’re looking at that snapshot and we’re seeing, well, what’s working and what’s not. So perhaps we may be at a low point with regard to our resilience that can be as a result of lots of different things. Maybe we’ve gone through a particularly tough challenge in our own lives. Maybe we have been working very hard without taking breaks or seeking that support.

Maybe we don’t have a support network or support system, depending on, like I’d mentioned there, depending on the type of content, depending on how that fits with our lived experience, what our own triggers are and the duration of it, of course. Perhaps we are in a habit of ignoring our emotions or suppressing our emotions. Maybe overall our mental health isn’t as good as it could be.

Maybe we don’t necessarily feel very buoyant in that sense. And maybe we find it difficult to hold boundaries within the workplace setting, but also switching off and having that work-life balance as well. Again, we don’t need to beat ourselves up over anything that shows up as a risk or an unhealthy coping mechanism. We’re using this information. So it’s good for us to have this.

It’ll signpost us to where we need to go and what kind of support we need as well. Okay, so to look at the experience of vicarious people,

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trauma.

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We need to look at things from a holistic perspective. So we want to be looking at the connection of thoughts, emotions, and our behavior as well. So when we experience vicarious trauma, it will affect us in all those different ways. So it’ll affect how we think, it’ll affect how we feel, and it’ll affect how we act as well.

So different kinds of thoughts that we can hold or perhaps cycle of thoughts, different emotions that can come about for us, and ways in which we see ourselves behaving or acting in the world. Different signs with regard to those things could be when we’re talking about behavior. So it might affect our sleeping, it might affect our concentration or exhaustion.

Other behavioral signs would be there as well. So different kinds of thoughts that can come about for us or different thought processes that can come about for us would be intrusive thoughts, unrealistic expectations, a negative worldview or negative thoughts in general.

Different emotional experiences that we can have within that greater experience of vicarious trauma would be having a difficulty managing those emotions, feeling as if there’s a helplessness to it. So there’s a lack of control or perhaps a lack of understanding with regard to the emotions that are coming up for us.

We might have a guilt about finding joy in the world because of what we are witnessing and the indirect effect of that. We might be feeling those deep intense emotions like grief, anxiety, sadness, anger. So lots of different things that can come about within the experience of vicarious trauma. Now this is extensive and it’s important that it’s extensive so that we’re mindful of the experience.

It’s not for us to, I’m not trying to worry anybody by being very thorough with this. The more we know, the more we are able to identify a change in our experience and the more that we will be able to seek that support. So good for us to be able to recognize all of those different links.

So being triggered by something, holding that emotional, cognitive and behavioral experience, noticing change in who we are, how we relate to ourselves, what our experience is and how we relate to the world as well. So perhaps we might be having thoughts like, I can’t cope, I haven’t done enough. I’m thinking different things about the world.

Maybe the emotional experience is that we’re very frightened. Maybe we feel very low. Maybe there’s a feeling of numbness as well. Maybe physically we can have those nightmares or flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, racing heart, all that kind of stuff.

And behavior then we might feel as if we are hypervigilant all the time or we might feel like we are avoiding certain things that we wouldn’t have done before. Or we might feel as if we’ve reached a point that’s known as compassion fatigue where we just don’t have anything left in the tank with regard to engaging or having that meaning or having that purpose or that, that empathy with that.

That’s another aspect of it as well. So really to be mindful of something that feels different, something that feels very uncomfortable and something that is relentless for us and is having that,

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having that extensive impact.

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impact on our life and on our world.

So, if we are thinking about starting a conversation around vicarious trauma, it is something, you know, from an organisational point of view, it is something that it is so important to talk about, but it’s also, you know, from a managerial perspective, let’s say, if we are in the role of support and encouragement and guidance, it’s important for us to be able to have that knowledge.

And it’s also important for us to be able to engage in consistent, open conversations with our colleagues and our team as well. So, there are different ways that we can address it in a setting, whether that’s in group setting or a one-to-one setting, to focus on the purpose of the work. This is something that can help to bring that perspective and help to remind us of the meaning as well.

So, to ask a question, why do you do this work? How do you measure success in this work as well? And finding ways to come back to why we do what we do, to find that perspective and find that outlook that would have drawn us to this work in the first place and that provided that fulfillment as well. To have conversations around how we structure the day or, you know, how we move through the day to day.

So, it’s good to look at the finer details in that sense as well. So, if there is a possibility to change things within your control, you know, let’s say you are a manager stepping up and having this conversation, you know, to empower somebody to make changes that they can.

And when there is some changes that can be made from the manager’s level, to be able to do that for the greater good, for the person’s mental health, for the person’s quality of life and, you know, for the humanity of it all. To be able to encourage taking breaks and to be mindful of breaks that are being taken or not taking as the case or not being taken as the case may be.

Having pause points throughout the day. So, this isn’t necessarily a break, but it’s an opportunity for us to centre ourselves, to be able to step back and to kind of reground ourselves. We regularly need that, especially when there is an intensity to the day or if we are feeling that very

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intense emotional impact of the day.

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to look at healthy habits that are available to us throughout our day and not to rely on just one because it, you know, it tends to happen whereby if we have one thing that we use throughout our working day that helps us or that’s useful for us, that may change.

So that might work well for us right now, but we might reach a point where it’s not working or it’s not doing the same thing that it used to. So the more that we can open those options of those habits that we build up, the better it’ll be for us. So how we feel about our work as well.

So starting a conversation around this or even to have a reflection point around any of these points, how do you feel about your work? How does it sit with you emotionally? How does it leave you feeling and what are those different kinds of emotions that come up for you throughout the day? Do you feel like you have balance? Is there a sense of being able to switch off?

This is a very simplistic question, but it’s important to ask these simple questions. Do you feel stressed? Do you feel overwhelmed? Do you feel as if there is something brewing or something growing within your own lived experience? And are there any habits that the purpose of them is for wellbeing, but perhaps they’re not working so well anymore? Is there change that’s needed within those habits?

So, you know, to bring it back then to starting an actual conversation around vicarious trauma or to start a conversation around engaging with somebody who has been affected, who is experiencing vicarious trauma.

If we are stepping in from an organisational perspective, you know, first things first, that sense of community and that sense of collaboration are vital within a setting where there is so much intensity, where there is so much potential negative impact, where there is so much that’s needed with regard to focus and to be precise with work.

So we need to be modelling and to be encouraging psychological safety. So that would include, as a manager, being approachable, having a culture of open spaces, feeling safe to talk, you know, being able to normalise conversations around these topics like vicarious trauma. And, you know, to be able to maintain a culture like this, it does take a lot of work from the top down.

So it does need to be walking the walk and not just talking the talk. But in a specific situation, if we are looking out for somebody, if we’re in that role of support in any kind of a way, whether it’s as a manager, whether it’s with regard to a peer or a colleague, to start a conversation is something that we build. So to be able to look at the do’s and don’ts of starting a conversation.

So assessing what’s needed within the setting. So assessing what those concerns are that are coming up, listening to the person that’s in front of you without pressuring them to talk. And to be able to provide a safe space, a comfortable space, a calm space is vital.

We do the best in the situation that we find ourselves to be able to engage in empowerment by way of referral to further information and resources as well.

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What we don’t want to do is to push anyone or pressure anybody to move through a detailed experience of what they’ve had. They may not understand it. They may not have the words. If they are overwhelmed, they might not have access to rational thought in that moment.

We’re not putting pressure on anybody to come to a decision as to what happened and why it happened or to speak more than what they are comfortable with. Also, you know, it can be an extreme or an exceptional circumstance that somebody might be at risk.

in these situations, even though they are exceptional, even though they are extreme, it’s important that we are well aware and it’s important that we are engaged in that process of learning what to do in those settings.

So to be able to provide discretion rather than saying everything is confidential, there may be a need to seek further support in the moment and you know, we’re offering confidentiality within that that might not be available to us.

Okay, so overall, when we think about support, I really want you to think about this by way of being proactive about putting in place a routine or putting in place a structure, looking at it as another task that’s part of our role or that’s part of our responsibilities throughout the day.

So different supports that we can engage in ourselves or we can encourage others to engage in and when I say encourage, I mean providing that information and giving them the agency to engage in what is a good fit for them.

We’re not trying to march people into rooms to engage in well-being that would defeat the purpose of it but you know, if there are let’s say well-being specialists with at Zevo Health, we would provide that support so I would be a well-being specialist so I would provide support for those people who are engaged in the work of content moderation and you know, at times can feel affected or feel overwhelmed by it.

So that can be in a one-to-one setting, that can be in a group setting depending on what the support service looks like.

You know, it’s also important if it’s if it feels like a good fit to engage in counselling and therapy that’s external to the workplace because we’re not just our work selves, it’s important for us to look at our health as a whole, it’s important to look at our needs as a whole, the full context.

Social support, so providing ourselves with authentic social connection, maybe distraction, maybe that expression, all these different things, these wonderful things that come to us through connection and through community as well.

Being able to engage in work-life balance as well that will look different from person to person so what feels right for you, giving yourself permission at the start of it.

Communication is huge so if you are a content moderator and you’re engaging in this work and you’re being affected in this way and you’re concerned to be able to speak up about it, to be able to speak to a manager or a colleague or something like that,

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we don’t need to ignore it, in fact it’s better that we don’t, it’s better that we’re transparent with ourselves and others and our own form of self-care as well. So having self-care routines throughout the day but also having self-care rituals and structures that would go beyond the workplace as well.

So just a couple of examples of ways that we can ground ourselves in the moment when we are, let’s say in the process of being affected or we’re feeling overwhelmed, this is an STOP grounding technique. Who doesn’t love a good acronym? I certainly do anyway, but this is something that can bring us back to the present moment.

So STOP, you stop what you’re doing first of all, and you take some deep breaths, slow down that breath, observe how your body feels and proceed with something that will soothe you. So maybe it’s taking a step away, maybe it’s going outside, maybe it’s engaging with a colleague, something like that where we can bring ourselves to the here and now.

Another technique would be to engage in progressive muscle relaxation. When we are overwhelmed, we’re feeling all of those different signs and symptoms. Our body can be very tense and it can build that tension over time. So PMR or progressive muscle relaxation is something where we engage in that tension.

So we take different parts of the body like the jaw, shoulders, hands, feet, whatever it is that you prefer, and we tighten it. We hold it for 10 seconds and then we release it. So it’s not that we’re trying to just relax. I mean, whoever in the history of time has relaxed by being told to relax, we engage, we acknowledge it. So we’re actually being proactive around it.

So an example could be, let’s say, to engage in progressive muscle relaxation with your hand or your fist. So if we were doing a full practice, I would tell you to clench your fist, hold it really, really tight, as tight as it can, and hold for 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, and release. Release it, go.

Feel the softness, feel the tingle, feel the nothing if there’s nothing there. And so we take it step by step with different parts of the body. Overall, then, looking forward, we’ve mentioned about self-care, looking after ourselves, looking after ourselves.

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looking at it as

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a proactive benefit to our lives, things that are nurturing, things that will help us by way of community or social support, rest, finding balance, letting that balance change as well, and also from the perspective of purpose and meaning as well, to be able to come back to why we chose to do this in the first place and to look at it from the perspective of giving back by doing something, taking control and by providing.

Okay, so key takeaways then would be to acknowledge what’s happening for you if you are having the signs and symptoms of vicarious trauma or if you see it in somebody that you are managing or that you are supporting, to recognize the impact, to look at it, not to ignore it but just to step up and say okay this is something that is possible, it’s something that’s human, I will be better off by engaging in the reality of the situation rather than pretending that it’s not happening or being harden ourselves, to develop different tools for ourselves to regulate, so to identify that there’s that connection between our thoughts, our emotions, our behavior and different things that we can build.

So we build our practice, we build our familiarity around these kinds of techniques, we just looked at a couple there, to recognize that if we are affected by this in a very extreme or intense way, give yourself time to recover. Okay, so we’re thinking about recovery in the moment and we’re thinking about recovery over time as well and resource yourselves.

So like this could be seeking out the support of Azevo Health Wellbeing Specialist or to engage in the services that are provided or it’s to see what I’m capable of, where is my resilience at, you know what support do I have with regard to my colleagues and my organizational structure as well.

There’s lots of things that you can do to look after yourself, it’s better for us to be aware of the potentials, it doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen, it just means that we are informed and we’re mindful of what we can do.

So if you are experiencing symptoms of vicarious trauma, please do reach out to a professional for support and to be able to engage in that support network that is around you. Don’t feel like you have to do it on your own, these things are in place for a reason and let yourself be helped.

Okay, that’s it from me, thank you so much for stopping by, thank you so much for listening, hopefully there was something of use in there for you. If you would like to find out further information about vicarious trauma or the services that are provided by Azevo Health, all the details are there, please get in touch, we’d be delighted to help out.