The DC SART has HEART
For the DC SART, May is all about HEART(Helping Everyone Acknowledge and Respond to Trauma)! The members of the DC SART invite you, our staff, to participate in a month of activities devoted to self-care, wellness, and the prevention of vicarious trauma.
As agencies devoted to caring for survivors of sexual abuse and sexual assault, it is critical that we place care for our staff on equal footing with care for our clients. Vicarious Trauma can impact us at both a personal and organizational level. We are committed to nurturing vicarious trauma-informed organizational cultures, starting with educating our staff about vicarious trauma and supporting your self-care and wellness practices.
Scroll down to see what’s happening in May!
Lunch and Learn
Join us for a weekly webinar series focused on vicarious trauma, self-care, and building resilience.
Register for webinars here.
Self-Care and Wellness
Interested in adding to your self-care repertoire? Try out a new activity at one of these virtual wellness workshops.
Register for wellness activities here.
Peer Support
Connect with your colleagues about the challenges of your work at a peer support session led by a licensed clinical social worker.
NOTE: The peer support session has already passed.
Why May?
Why May? May is Mental Health Awareness Month and preventing vicarious trauma is a critical part of caring for your mental health. It also follows Sexual Assault Awareness Month, which is a time when your work is thrown into the spotlight. This brings needed attention to the work that you do but it also means an extra full and busy month for folks who work in sexual assault services. It’s the perfect time to pause for a moment and (re)focus on your self-care and wellness practices.
What is Vicarious Trauma?
Vicarious trauma is an occupational hazard for people who work with survivors of trauma and violence. Vicarious trauma refers to experiencing negative symptoms due to exposure to another person’s trauma. Anyone who works with survivors of trauma or violence can be impacted by vicarious trauma.
Learn more about vicarious trauma.
About the Project
DC SART’s month of HEART is supported by the Vicarious Trauma Response Initiative (VTRI), a project funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime and administered by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Washington, DC is one of 12 communities chosen by IACP to build interdisciplinary, cross-agency collaborations to assess and address the impact of vicarious trauma on their respective staff.
The members of the VTRI Washington, DC Community Implementation Site are Network for Victim Recovery of DC, DC Rape Crisis Center, DC Metropolitan Police Department, DC Department of Forensic Sciences, and DC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
If you have any questions about VTRI or the Month of HEART, please contact Colleen Gallopin at colleen@nvrdc.org.