When empathy becomes too much: How crises translate to trauma and what to do about it (Burnout Busters | The Podcast)

Health care professionals working with patients or clients who have endured traumatic events can expect to experience some stress related to this role. But at what point does that stress become detrimental, or even cross a line into secondary or vicarious trauma? This week, join our Burnout Busters for a conversation around trauma. Host Hannah West, PhD, talks about her work with trauma patients and with organizations on addressing trauma among caregivers, prior to and in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. You’ll learn how to recognize trauma and take steps to respond to its symptoms, and how the “do no harm” tenet of the Hippocratic oath applies to health workers in addition to their subjects.

Hannah West Headshot Hannah West, PhD, BCBA, is a regional trainer for the Mid-America MHTTC and behavioral health provider at Sunflower Pediatric Behavioral Health in Shawnee, Kansas. Dr. West is passionate about assisting schools and districts at the systems level through consultation and coaching to match student academic, behavioral and mental health needs with resources available through the development of multi-tiered systems of support. As a trainer for the National Association of School Psychologists’ (NASP) PREPaRE curriculum, she is also passionate about working with schools to implement best-practice prevention, intervention, and postvention supports related to school crises. Dr. West received her doctorate in school psychology from Oklahoma State University. Her doctoral training and research focused on child and adolescent assessment and treatment, as well as working within the systems and environments they live to match resources to needs.