Vicarious Trauma Training
The Vicarious Trauma Training is a comprehensive framework for understanding and managing the impact of trauma exposure in professional roles. The curriculum is designed to cover these topics with greater breadth and depth than one-time trainings in order to build a skill set that is personalized and developed over time. Topics covered include neurobiology of trauma response, moral injury, nervous system regulation, impacts of trauma work on personal relationships, and skills for addressing each of these areas of impact.
Practitioners who complete all 8 modules will receive 3 CEUs.
Target Audience: Social workers, those in social services, advocacy, health care professionals, lawyers, and anyone who has high-trauma exposure in their job.
Asynchronous Courses - Pre-Recorded
- Online participants are required to have a computer with video and audio capability.
- The courses below are pre-recorded, comprising approximately four 1.5-hour sessions each.
- Participants will have 120 days from the date of registration to complete the courses.
Module 1: Neurobiology of Trauma Response & Vicarious Trauma
Online via Canvas Catalog • 20 minutes
Instructor: Kathleen Flinton, MAR, MSW, LICSW, and Anna Mancuso, ScM, MSW, LICSW
This module provides an introduction to the course and an overview of the neurobiological response to trauma. It also introduces the concept of Vicarious Trauma and why it can make “hard jobs” seem even harder by interfering with personal and professional well-being.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will understand trauma as a neurobiological response.
- Participants will describe the Window of Tolerance and begin to apply it to their own regulation system.
- Participants will understand a framework of Vicarious Trauma and connect it to their "why".
Module 2: Polyvagal Theory, Nervous System States and DMN
Online via Canvas Catalog • 20 minutes
Instructors: Kathleen Flinton, MAR, MSW, LICSW, and Anna Mancuso, ScM, MSW, LICSW
This module describes how trauma responses show up in our professional roles and have an impact on our identities. It introduces Polyvagal Theory, the theory of how we manage and respond to threat, and is related to terms such as neuroception. It uses a traffic light analogy to demonstrate the differences between different forms of trauma/stress adaptation.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will understand the impact of trauma on the autonomic nervous system and the general concepts related to Polyvagal theory.
- Participants will differentiate between positive and toxic activation and the varied forms of adaptation.
- Participants will recognize what it looks like to be "stuck" in a particular nervous system state, such as yellow or red.
Module 3: Self Care
Online via Canvas Catalog • 20 minutes
Instructors: Kathleen Flinton, MAR, MSW, LICSW, and Anna Mancuso, ScM, MSW, LICSW
This module differentiates between different forms of self-care and the related connection to how we manage affect (feelings). It also challenges the “work-life” balance paradigm and gives examples of how different forms of self-care can look similar but function differently.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will define a framework for self-care and its relationship to managing trauma exposure in hard jobs.
- Participants will discern between self-care, self-rescue, and self-preservation.
- Participants will understand the need for a diversified skill set to help manage vicarious trauma.
Module 4: Boundaries and Context Management
Online via Canvas Catalog • 20 minutes
Instructors: Kathleen Flinton, MAR, MSW, LICSW, and Anna Mancuso, ScM, MSW, LICSW
This module examines the concept of boundaries and the challenges with putting work down given personal missions and often proximity to the spaces in which we engage in “hard jobs”. It also defines context changes, how we go between different professional and personal spaces and encourages the development of routines and rituals to aid in that process.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will define boundaries and how they apply to them.
- Participants will understand how the relationship between boundaries and Vicarious Trauma.
- Participants will be able to make a plan for their context changes.
Module 5: Moral Injury
Online via Canvas Catalog • 20 minutes
Instructors: Kathleen Flinton, MAR, MSW, LICSW, and Anna Mancuso, ScM, MSW, LICSW
This module presents the foundational concept of moral injury in relationship with working in certain types of jobs. It provides vignettes about moral injury and makes connections to the challenges of working in situations that feel high-stake.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will understand moral injury's place in the Vicarious Trauma framework.
- Participants will Identify several ways in which moral injury manifests in different professional settings.
- Participants will examine different interventions for managing moral injury.
Module 6: Relaxation Strategies
Online via Canvas Catalog • 20 minutes
Instructors: Kathleen Flinton, MAR, MSW, LICSW, and Anna Mancuso, ScM, MSW, LICSW
This module introduces neuroplasticity and its connection to mindfulness. It also goes over some of the benefits of mindfulness. it describes the foundation of regulation skills and provides examples of many types of regulation activities including relaxation and resourcing.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will understand neuroplasticity and its connection with mindfulness.
- Participants will explain several benefits of mindfulness.
- Participants will describe the foundation of regulation and foundational components of regulation skills.
Module 7: Relational Impact of Vicarious Trauma
Online via Canvas Catalog • 20 minutes
Instructors: Kathleen Flinton, MAR, MSW, LICSW, and Anna Mancuso, ScM, MSW, LICSW
The module examines the impact of Vicarious Trauma on personal relationships, including intimate partnership and us as social beings and members of our communities. It works on recognizing and describing the challenges of being present and engaged when one works a “hard job”. It also provides information on effective communication skills and how to talk about work..
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will understand the impact of Vicarious Trauma on intimate and social relationships.
- Participants will recognize and differentiate between communication and support.
- Participants will reflect on how you talk about your job in social settings.
Module 8: Consolidation
Online via Canvas Catalog • 20 minutes
Instructors: Kathleen Flinton, MAR, MSW, LICSW, and Anna Mancuso, ScM, MSW, LICSW
The final module works to recognize the positive impact of “hard jobs”, including positive mean-making, growth, and transformation. It also identifies opportunities to reflect on bearing witness to working with clients and reflect on how this may shape more than just professional identities. Finally, it provides a framework to see vicarious resilience as an important antidote to Vicarious Trauma.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will understand how you benefit from exposure to their clients’ trauma and journeys.
- Participants will consider how work impact professionally and personally.
- Participants will reflect on a sustainability plan to combat Vicarious Trauma.
Vicarious Trauma Training Instructors
General Information:
You must be at least 18 years old to participate in the Social Work Workshops. All sales are final; we are not able to offer refunds. Registrations may not be transferred to another person or to another course, seminar, workshop, or program.
Online registration is required to participate in a workshop. General or Discounted Admission tuition for each workshop is to be paid by debit or credit card. Registrations will be processed upon receipt of payment. Payment is due in full in order to enroll.
These seminars are approved for CEUs for Social Workers in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont. They meet the requirements for Continuing Education Hours established by the State Board of Social Worker Licensure in Maine. If your state is not listed, please check with your local state licensing board to ensure the workshop meets state requirements prior to registering.
The MA Board of Registration of Social Workers has adopted a policy that requires licensees to complete continuing education (“CE”) in anti-racism and anti-discrimination to meet CE obligations.
Licensees must complete the following CE each licensing cycle:
1. Two (2) CE hours in anti-racism with a focus on oppression, and
2. One (1) CE hour in anti-discrimination, addressing oppression because of ethnicity, national origin, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, marital status, political belief, religion, immigration status, and/or mental or physical ability.
Boston College Continuing Education is required to ensure attendance to award CEUs. Participants must attend the complete program(s) they register for to receive CEUs; we are not able to award partial CEUs. Those who arrive late, leave early, or do not attend the entire program will be unable to receive CEUs.
Getting to Campus
Parking is available at the nearby Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue Garages. Discounted parking passes are available upon registration.
Boston College is also accessible via public transportation (MBTA B Line - Boston College).