Collectively Taking Care

Module purpose

• Start with ourselves with self-compassion and cultivating our capacity to be present and engage in compassionate action.

• Build responsive environments and services that support everyone’s well-being and does not replicate harm and oppression.

• Strengthen our relationships — standing together in solidarity and fostering collective sustainability.

• Connect our work to efforts toward a more just society. Creating conditions for all to thrive.

Module overview

Module reflection guide

Please click here to access a reflection guide you can use on your own or to guide discussion with a team or group of people.

Note: Throughout this module, when we speak of ourselves, we are referring to ourselves as plural “us” and will be inviting us to think about how to work towards collective sustainability.

Let's begin this module by taking a “mindful moment” to ground our intentions. Statistically, many people doing this training have gone through some sort of trauma.  As you are going through this training please be mindful of your responses. Let's start by taking a deep breath. It is OK to stop anytime you want, take a break, stretch, walk around.

Be mindful. Take a deep breath.
Take good care of yourself

Module Purpose | Secondary Trauma | Recognize Empathic Distress | Move into Compassionate Action | Disrupt Ripples of Trauma | Create Empowering Learning | Strengthen Calming Responses | Build Solidarity | Center Ethics | Expand Circle of Belonging | Acknowledgements

Vicarious or Secondary Trauma

What is vicarious or secondary trauma?

The terms vicarious or secondary trauma refer to how we are affected by exposure to other people’s suffering. These terms refer to: 

With burnout we can:

> feel physical, mental, or emotional exhaustion caused by overwork or chronic stress, which can cause high levels of fatigue and work dissatisfaction.

Click here for a handout on the signs and symptoms of vicarious and secondary trauma. 

Levels of vicarious and secondary trauma

Most often, conversations about vicarious and secondary trauma focus on the individual – emphasizing the different ways that we can address our personal experiences to maintain our capacity to support others.

The following diagram helps us explore responses to exposure to trauma at different levels from an individual to community/society response.

In this module, we will also explore broader organizational and societal factors. 

Sources:

1. Rachel Naomi Remen (1996) “Kitchen Table Wisdom: Stories that Heal” Penguin, New York

2. Françoise Mathieu (2012). The Compassion Fatigue Workbook. Routledge

3. Laura van Dernoot Lipsky and Connie Burk (2009, p.41). Trauma Stewardship: An everyday guide to caring for self while caring for others.

Module Purpose | Secondary Trauma | Recognize Empathic Distress | Move into Compassionate Action | Disrupt Ripples of Trauma | Create Empowering Learning | Strengthen Calming Responses | Build Solidarity | Center Ethics | Expand Circle of Belonging | Acknowledgements

Recognize Empathic Distress

We can sustain our work when we combine our capacity for empathy and compassion with a dedication to personal insight and our ability (individually and collectively) to be present so as to not cause harm but to reduce it.

The following figure demonstrates how our empathy for another’s suffering can at times outweigh our resources to respond. We may experience distress and it can be more difficult to respond to another’s suffering. We might become overwhelmed and withdraw. There is also a risk of armoring our heart (being less emotionally vulnerable) in this work.

In this module, we will explore ways to recognize and respond to the emotional distress (individually and collectively) we may feel from exposure to suffering and be more supported to move into compassionate action.

1. Self-reflection - Being aware and acknowledging what we are feeling.

2. Being in relationship - Turning to each other for support.

3. Action - Engaging in compassionate action.

Self-compassion is the first place to start. Click here for an infographic on the benefits of self-compassion.

Joan Halifax developed the GRACE model© in response to the need to help prevent burnout and secondary trauma. This practice offers a way to open to another person's experience, to stay centered in the presence of suffering, and to develop the capacity to respond with compassion.

Often just gathering our attention (step 1) takes a lot of practice because we are easily distracted and stressed. This step is a reminder to pause and give ourselves time to get grounded. It is important to find a way that works for you. One way to do that is to try out a strategy. Click here to access strategies from Joan Halifax on how to gather our attention. Different strategies will work for different people.

Compassion resilience

In fact, there are also positive health benefits for ourselves when we cultivate compassion. Studies suggest compassion plays a significant role in reducing physiological stress and promoting physical and emotional well-being. Compassion is associated with higher life satisfaction, lower inflammation levels, better immune response, improved longevity and changing neurochemistry and stress response from fear and overwhelm to the biology of hope and courage. Cultivating compassion is a key to resilience and well-being.

Click here for a handout on the positive health benefits of compassion. 

Tools

The Professional Quality of Life (PROQOL) Scale helps to get a sense or our experiences in relation to our role of helping others. You can retake the assessment to measure changes over time as you integrate practices for taking care of ourselves and each other.

Download this handout to access tools and daily practices.

Download this handout to access the Trauma Stewardship Tiny Survival Guide. 

Sources:

1. Joan Halifax (2017) Compassion at the Edge. https://www.upaya.org/2017/05/compassion-at-the-edge-by-roshi-joan-halifax/

2. Joan Halifax (2017) On Being Podcast: Finding buoyancy amidst despair https://onbeing.org/programs/joan-halifax-finding-buoyancy-amidst-despair/

3. Joan Halifax (2018) Standing at the Edge: Finding freedom where fear and courage meet. Flatiron Books

4. Singer & Klimecki (2014) Empathy and Compassion. Current Biology, Volume 24, Issue 18, pp. R875-R878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2014.06.054

5. Goetz et al. (2010) Compassion: An evolutionary analysis and empirical review.

   Psychol Bull. 2010 May ; 136(3): 351–374. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2864937/pdf/nihms185240.pdf

6. Figley, C. R. (Ed.). (1995). Compassion fatigue: Coping with secondary traumatic stress disorder in those who treat the traumatized. Brunner/Mazel.

7. Wise Wisconsin - https://wisewisconsin.org/tag/compassion-resilience/

8. Laura van Dernoot Lipsky (2009) Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others (p. 238). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition.

9. Joan Halifax (2017) On Being Podcast

10. Joan Halifax. (2010). Compassion and the True Meaning of Empathy [Video]. TED Conferences. https://www.ted.com/talks/joan_halifax_compassion_and_the_true_meaning_of_empathy

Module Purpose | Secondary Trauma | Recognize Empathic Distress | Move into Compassionate Action | Disrupt Ripples of Trauma | Create Empowering Learning | Strengthen Calming Responses | Build Solidarity | Center Ethics | Expand Circle of Belonging | Acknowledgements

Sustain Our Ability to Move into Compassionate Action

First, we want to reinforce that it is normal and very human to move into empathic distress. We often come to this work with an immense amount of caring and desire to make a difference in the world. When we care for others, it is common to experience distress, burnout, and fatigue. In those times, we can first honor our own need for self-compassion and self-care. Then, when we are ready, and when (and if) we would like, here are tips to help us shift from distress into compassionate action.

Tip 1: Cultivating our capacity to be present

Laura van Dernoot Lipsky invites us to individually and collectively to cultivate our capacity to be present. One thing that we can do is bring our quality of presence to what we are doing and how we are being [and relating]. 

Recognizing our responses to stress is the first step to compassion for ourselves (and others). From this place of understanding and self-compassion, we can begin to understand:

What is causing our overwhelm > > work to change what is within our control >> cultivate our capacity to be present.

It is important that we stay engaged with our thoughts and feelings as they help us process what we are experiencing. We can then bring awareness to our feelings and transform and integrate them so that they don’t become harmful to ourselves or in our relationships with others.

We can say to ourselves: “I’m having strong feelings right now”. Then, we can ask ourselves: “What can I do to manage and move through these feelings?”  

It’s important to have daily practices that help us transform stress. We can help our body release tension and hormones that accumulate with stress. Click here to reflect on how stress may show up in our bodies.

Click here for 12 self-care tips for carers — ways to transform compassion fatigue into compassion satisfaction.

Tip 2: Remember why we are doing this work

Reflection:

1. What are our values? Why are we doing this work?

2. What are our intentions? What are our hopes to help and serve others? 

3. How do we best open our heart to the world?

4. What are our commitments to act with integrity to our values?

Here are some additional tools to help us remember why we are doing this work. 

• Sparks exercise - Daily practice of nurturing our sparks 

• Values exercise - Reflect on how our values guide our work

When we have strengthened our capacity to be more fully present and aligned with our values and intentions, we can move more easily into compassionate action. Remembering our values also helps us cultivate more resilience during challenging times.

Sources:

1. Laura van Dernoot Lipsky (2009) Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others. Berrett-Koehler Publishers

2. Laura van Dernoot Lipsky (2019) https://soundcloud.com/wsip/79-dealing-with-overwhelm-in-the-age-of-trump

3. Stanford University, The Center for Compassion and altruism research and education http://ccare.stanford.edu/

4. Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, (2018) The Age of Overwhelm: Strategies for the Long Haul. Berrett-Koehler Publishers

5. Laura van Dernoot Lipsky. Caring for Yourself Means Changing the System. BK Magazine Social Change. https://www.bkconnection.com/bkblog/laura-van-dernoot-lipsky/caring-for-yourself-means-changing-the-system

6. Laura van Dernoot Lipsky (2009). Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others. Berrett-Koehler Publishers p. 150

7. G.R.A.C.E. is a model created by Roshi Joan Halifax ©2018 Shambhala Publications, Inc.

Module Purpose | Secondary Trauma | Recognize Empathic Distress | Move into Compassionate Action | Disrupt Ripples of Trauma | Create Empowering Learning | Strengthen Calming Responses | Build Solidarity | Center Ethics | Expand Circle of Belonging | Acknowledgements

Disrupt the Ripple Effects of Trauma

It is critical to build responsive environments and services that support people’s well-being and do not replicate oppression people experience. We can start by recognizing and disrupting the ripple effects of trauma in our organizations and communities.

There is the potential to either mitigate or exacerbate the effects of trauma exposure in our organizations and communities which can become trauma-organized and as a result people often feel unsafe. 

We can unintentionally begin to create what is called a “parallel process” that is not so useful, where individuals, groups or organizations begin to develop similar ways of thinking and behaving. For example, we may show signs of feeling unsafe, feeling helpless or stuck, or overwhelmed across staff, organizations, and the people we serve.

This can impact our ability to do our work and support people, and may even re-traumatize the people that we are trying to help. 

We can interrupt this and create a more useful parallel process that is strengths-based and creates a space for our collective reflection and collaborative learning. This helps to re-organize the organization or system with more trauma-informed responses. Click here to dive deeper into trauma-informed responses.

Sources:

1. Figures - Bloom & Farragher (2013). Restoring Sanctuary: A new operating system for trauma-informed systems of care. Oxford University Press, New York City. You can learn more about the Sanctuary Model here - https://www.thesanctuaryinstitute.org/about-us/the-sanctuary-model/.

Module Purpose | Secondary Trauma | Recognize Empathic Distress | Move into Compassionate Action | Disrupt Ripples of Trauma | Create Empowering Learning | Strengthen Calming Responses | Build Solidarity | Center Ethics | Expand Circle of Belonging | Acknowledgements

Create Empowering Collaborative Learning

To  provide more responsive services, it is important to create time and space in our work for relationship building, learning, reflection, and growth. When we do this, we can work to create a more generative, thoughtful, and supportive space. 

Meaningful conversations

The work of creating trauma-informed systems is complex. We can start first with practices that support meaningful conversations.

Jenée shares:

• Trauma and stress are chronic public health issues. We need to address the ways that trauma and stress affect us in the workforce, so that we don’t end up doing harm to each other and to the very people we seek to help. 

• As organizations become more mindful, we can nest our trauma and racial equity work in being present, conscious, and kind. In this work, it is important to learn to reset, recognize unconscious biases, and build resilience, to help us be more compassionate. With mindfulness, we have tools for more difficult conversations.

Racism is a form of trauma. To begin to unravel the harm of racism—the historical trauma, the microaggressions, the white fragility that often is a barrier to conversation—people need to have a level of self-awareness, to be able to sit, without judgment, with what is uncomfortable, to be present and aware, and to hold this inquiry with curiosity and kindness. Being mindful—knowing and being in touch with what is going on with you—is essential to undoing racism. Jenée Johnson

Sharing stories

We can also support our collective learning through sharing stories, and focus on what is working well, opening possibilities.

Nelson Mandela said, “It always seems impossible until it is done”. 

Stories make change visible by showing the small steps we are taking that makes organizational and systems change more possible.

Engaging in conversations and sharing stories help us to: 

• Explore both thoughts and feelings.

• Give voice to intuitive gut reactions. 

• Open up new solutions and creativity. 

• Builds lasting connections that can be used for future problem solving.

• Stories help modulate our nervous systems and our outlook, helping us to engage in this work with more compassion and resilience. 

• Being listened to and hearing back our stories makes us more visible — we feel seen and acknowledged. 

• Stories support people to bring their whole selves to this work — acknowledging each other’s humanity and learning from each other. 

• Strengths and resilience become apparent through stories, surfacing what we often don’t recognize in ourselves and others. 

• Stories can foster a sense of personal and collective agency. 

• Stories become a tool to support our practice, integrating learning into what we do in our work and lives that bring trauma-informed principles to life in a real and concrete way.

We can relate to each other's stories. They are concrete, we can learn from them. They help us feel more connected to each other and that we can work together as a team. Stories provide the fuel for our active learning. They can also help us to strengthen our relationships.

Sources:

1. Laura Porter, Kimberley Martin, and Rob Anda (2016). Self-Healing Communities. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. https://www.rwjf.org/en/library/research/2016/06/self-healing-communities.html

2. Jenée Johnson (2019). Encouraging Meaningful Conversations about Race and Trauma. https://www.mindful.org/encouraging-meaningful-conversations-about-race-and-trauma/

3. Bodiford and Burroughs (2019). Stories: Connection, healing, hope. https://medium.com/families-thrive/stories-connection-healing-hope-6c0ce2244347

Module Purpose | Secondary Trauma | Recognize Empathic Distress | Move into Compassionate Action | Disrupt Ripples of Trauma | Create Empowering Learning | Strengthen Calming Responses | Build Solidarity | Center Ethics | Expand Circle of Belonging | Acknowledgements

Strengthen Connected and Calming Responses 

As we turn to each other and build our relational capacities we are able to practice collective self-care. Let’s start with how we can create connected and calming responses to each other, especially during stressful times.

Understanding about mirror neurons and emotional co-regulation is important:  

1. For our own health and well-being,

2. To break the continued cycle of physiologically mirroring (and re-enacting) each other’s responses to trauma and toxic stress, and 

3. To support emotional co-regulation or calming our stress response systems.

What is exciting about this is the possibility that we can work to choose what kind of wiring we want to reinforce in our own reactions and in our interactions with others.

Sources:

1. Keysers, C., & Gazzola, V. (2006). Towards a unifying neural theory of social cognition. In Anders et al. (Eds.), Understanding Emotions (Vol. 156, pp. 379–401). Elsevier. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/S0079-6123(06)56021-2

2. American Immigration Lawyers Association August 2018

3. Keysers, C., & Gazzola, V. (2010). Social Neuroscience: Mirror Neurons Recorded in Humans. Current Biology, 20(8), R353–R354. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2010.03.013

Module Purpose | Secondary Trauma | Recognize Empathic Distress | Move into Compassionate Action | Disrupt Ripples of Trauma | Create Empowering Learning | Strengthen Calming Responses | Build Solidarity | Center Ethics | Expand Circle of Belonging | Acknowledgements

Build Solidarity

We can also build solidarity in our work together. Vikki Reynolds (she/her) offers an approach to thinking about vicarious trauma or burnout with an ethic of solidarity and collective sustainability (as opposed to simply self-care). Vikki asks us to consider, “How can we serve to shoulder each other up in this work?”

From a collective care perspective, we’re invited to work to stay in connection. Vikki warns us however if we move too close (e.g. into heroism) or move too far away with distancing (e.g. negativity and cynicism) we can lose that sense of connection where each person can bring their values, knowledge, and resources to support each other.

How do we build a collective sense of responsibility? 

Being collectively responsible means we have the moral courage to hold each other accountable, stay together through the discomfort, and move together towards new learnings being able to receive and give richer feedback.

We must also remember to always prioritize our own and each other’s safety and care in the discomfort. In this way, we can build a solidarity team. 

Tips for being an ally

Racial Equity Tools defines being an ally as:

Becoming imperfect allies

By being allies, we are willing to act with and for others to achieve more justice and equity for all people. We can work to create the space to be imperfect allies, inviting grace and compassion for ourselves and each other in this work. When we have grace and compassion for each other we can:

1. Embrace a belief that everyone is doing the best that they can, and operating from their best intentions. What people are thinking and doing makes perfect sense from their perspective.

2. Be more patient with ourselves and others.

3. Work to achieve a deeper understanding.

4. Accept our differences and at the same time seeks solutions. 

Vikki also invites us to ask ourselves, “Am I walking the talk?” and embrace responsibility for the ways we are not acting as allies, despite our intentions. We can lean in with vulnerability with open hearts to critique.  

Click here to access some guiding questions from Vikki Reynolds to reflect on about being imperfect allies.

Sources:

1. Vikki Reynolds (2019) The Zone of Fabulousness: Resisting vicarious trauma with connection, collective care and justice-doing in ways that that centre the people we work alongside. https://vikkireynoldsdotca.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/2019-context-uk-zone-of-fabulousness-reynolds.pdf

2. Vikki Reynolds (2012) An Ethical Stance for Justice-Doing in Community Work and Therapy. Journal of Systemic Therapies, Vol. 31, No. 4, 2012, pp. 18–33 https://vikkireynoldsdotca.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/reynoldsandpolancoethicsstanceforjusticedoing2012jst.pdf

3. OpenSource Leadership Strategies, “The Dynamic System of Power, Privilege, and Oppression” (2008).

4. Center for Assessment and Policy Development.

5. Franchesca Ramsey [chescaleigh]. (2014). 5 Tips for Being an Ally [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dg86g-QlM0

6. Vikki Reynolds (2013) Leaning In” as Imperfect Allies in Community Work. Narrative and Conflict: Explorations of theory and practice. Volume 1, Issue 1. https://journals.gmu.edu/index.php/NandC/article/view/430/364

Module Purpose | Secondary Trauma | Recognize Empathic Distress | Move into Compassionate Action | Disrupt Ripples of Trauma | Create Empowering Learning | Strengthen Calming Responses | Build Solidarity | Center Ethics | Expand Circle of Belonging | Acknowledgements

Center Ethics

Our commitments to collective self-care also extend to creating conditions for all to thrive. Centering our ethics (what guides our actions) by exploring points of connection in our values, intentions, and commitments can serve as a foundation for this work. These points of connection form a sense of collective ethic that brings and holds us together.

• What values drew us to this work? What ways of working do I value and can’t work without?

• What is our history and relationship to these values? Who taught them to us?

• How have these values shown up in our work? What values come alive when we work with the people we serve and support?

• Which values do we share and hold collectively?

• How can we shape our work and activities to make sure we hold on to these values?

• looking at a larger context of how trauma is inflicted,

• on many different levels of people’s lives: society, communities, organizations, movements and homes, and can become cumulative.

Address issues of power and privilege

We can start by asking ourselves: 

• How can we create spaces for reflection, conversations and be accountable to power and privilege? 

• How can we work to interrupt power and privilege? How do we stand up to power in a useful way? How do we engage in the collective work of dismantling oppression? 

Let’s explore some common definitions for a couple terms first before we move forward. Click here to access a handout. 

Power and privilege combine to either oppress or give advantages to certain groups of people. Explore an interactive exercise on power and privilege below.  

Dismantling oppression starts with:

1. Learning about oppression, especially by listening to those who are affected most.

2. Reflecting on and challenging one’s own implicit (and explicit) bias.

3. Taking collective action in solidarity. 

Explore the concepts of implicit bias in the videos below.

This means that we are both deeply learning and actively stepping in to do the work of addressing racism and bias. 

Click here for an exercise on addressing power and privilege.

Sources:

1. Vikki Reynolds (2011). Resisting Burnout With Justice-Doing. The International Journal of Narrative Therapy and Community Work, 4, pp. 27-45.

2.  Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, Caring for Yourself Means Changing the System. BK Magazine Social Change. https://www.bkconnection.com/bkblog/laura-van-dernoot-lipsky/caring-for-yourself-means-changing-the-system

3. Vikki Reynolds (2012) An Ethical Stance for Justice-Doing in Community Work and Therapy. Journal of Systemic Therapies, Vol. 31, No. 4, 2012, pp. 18–33 https://vikkireynoldsdotca.files.wordpress.com/2017/12/reynoldsandpolancoethicsstanceforjusticedoing2012jst.pdf

4. Ibid

5. Vikki Reynolds (2013) Leaning In” as Imperfect Allies in Community Work. Narrative and Conflict: Explorations of theory and practice. Volume 1, Issue 1. https://journals.gmu.edu/index.php/NandC/article/view/430/364

Module Purpose | Secondary Trauma | Recognize Empathic Distress | Move into Compassionate Action | Disrupt Ripples of Trauma | Create Empowering Learning | Strengthen Calming Responses | Build Solidarity | Center Ethics | Expand Circle of Belonging | Acknowledgements

Expand the Circle of Belonging

A foundation of ethics and shared values helps us to do the essential work of addressing systemic and structural inequities.

The Othering and Belonging Institute works to examine and remediate the processes of exclusion, marginalization, and structural inequality—what they call othering—in order to build a world based on inclusion, fairness, justice, and care for the earth—what they call belonging.

How do we work towards belonging?

To learn more about bridging and breaking visit the animated video curriculum from the Othering and Belonging Institute. 

One is an all too familiar story rooted in domination and exploitation and fueled by manipulating and manufacturing fear. This story reads as if we are living in a world where entire communities, and even the earth itself, are treated as the “other,” as though their well-being isn’t essential to all of our futures. This story is organized around a small “we” that is increasingly disconnected and isolated.

The other story is one of a larger “we.” It is an expansive story, rooted in compassion and respect, and motivated by the belief that we are all connected to each other and to our planet. This story does not ask us to sublimate those parts of our identities that give us meaning.  This story offers all of us a place in co-creating the world we want to be part of. 

The second story expands the circle of belonging and human concern to a larger “we”. We get to choose which story we come together around and act into for a more just and inclusive future with a sense of true belonging.  

Sources:

1. Othering & Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley. Expanding the Circle of Human Concern. https://belonging.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/expanding_the_circle_of_human_concern_impact_report.pdf

2. ibid

Module Purpose | Secondary Trauma | Recognize Empathic Distress | Move into Compassionate Action | Disrupt Ripples of Trauma | Create Empowering Learning | Strengthen Calming Responses | Build Solidarity | Center Ethics | Expand Circle of Belonging | Acknowledgements

 Acknowledgements

This module draws on the work of several researchers and practitioners. Informed by their work, we explored different ways we can strengthening our collective capacity for compassion - individually, organizationally, and in communities/society. This serves as the foundation for our work towards justice and creating conditions for all to thrive We are grateful for the work of the following individuals and organizations that informed this module:

Module Purpose | Secondary Trauma | Recognize Empathic Distress | Move into Compassionate Action | Disrupt Ripples of Trauma | Create Empowering Learning | Strengthen Calming Responses | Build Solidarity | Center Ethics | Expand Circle of Belonging | Acknowledgements