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Leading through the long tail of trauma
Thursday, July 7, 2022 • Advancing Research Community
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Leading through the long tail of trauma
Speakers: Uday Gajendar , Rachael Dietkus, LCSW , Dr. Dawn Emerick and Dawn E. Shedrick, LCSW
Link:

Summary

The fatigue and trauma from events of the past few years has affected many of us – not just personally, but also professionally, and at the organizational level as well. For the most part, the corporate world has recognized the impact these past years have had on employees and teams. However, many organizations have only recently become aware of the longer-term effects and are struggling to support their people as they work through the long tail of trauma In this special community call, produced in partnership by Rosenfeld Media’s Advancing Research and Enterprise Experience curation teams, Uday Gajendar facilitated a discussion about the long tail of trauma, with Rachael Dietkus, LCSW, Dawn E. Shedrick, LCSW, and Dr. Dawn Emerick.

Key Insights

  • Including people with lived trauma experience in research planning improves sensitivity and anticipation of trauma responses.

  • Asynchronous and nonverbal methods can reduce retraumatization compared to live interviews.

  • Building trust with community partners and service providers is essential when working with marginalized groups.

  • Trauma is deeply cultural, and assumptions about body language or participant behavior can lead to misinterpretation.

  • Frequent breaks and informal interruptions (like walking or sharing stories) help manage participant comfort.

  • Researchers must recognize their own risk of vicarious trauma and build self-care rituals including debriefing and therapy.

  • Having two interviewers on trauma-related studies helps manage unexpected trauma responses in participants and the researchers.

  • Organizational trauma-informed change must start with HR policies and leadership modeling vulnerability and flexibility.

  • Trauma-informed work must resist commodification that simply repackages old methods under new labels.

  • Trauma-informed care is a continual process of becoming, requiring humility, cultural responsiveness, and ethical responsibility.

Notable Quotes

"Trauma is not the external event, but how that event embeds in an individual's body."

"You can’t heal your way out of death or oppression by reforming oppressive systems; you must dismantle them."

"If you work with humans, you work with trauma; it’s inherent in human experience."

"People from different cultures have different ways of experiencing and showing trauma; body language is not universal."

"I’ve never gone into an Indigenous community alone; relationships and partnerships are vital."

"Consent is ongoing; check in repeatedly during interviews about participants’ comfort and willingness."

"Breaks equalize stress and can prevent trauma responses from spilling over."

"Self-care after trauma work includes debriefing, therapy, time off, and reconnecting with loved ones."

"Leadership modeling ‘being human’ with stress and mental health normalizes trauma-informed culture."

"Being trauma informed is not a destination but a journey of continuous learning and unlearning."

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