The Work We Do: On Vicarious Trauma

A note on mental health and investigations.

The longer you’ve worked in investigations, human rights or wrongful convictions, the more likely it is that you are going to be exposed to imagery, sounds or even written descriptions that can be traumatizing.

Trust me. I know.

When I was spending a great deal of time studying terrorist groups in the 2010s, the increasing violence in the Middle East meant that I was spending more and more time seeing graphic images of war.

I never noticed it, but over time, this wore me down and was starting to affect me and my work. It was a slow gradual thing, like water running over stone to make it smooth. I didn’t know back then that there were a number of strategies I could have been employing to reduce any secondary trauma I was experiencing. I wish I would have.

I’ll never forget the video from Syria. The one that left a mark on me I know will last forever. It still prevents me from doing certain work, I still can’t watch certain movies. I still have a physical reflex to any sounds or sights that approach what I saw in the video. Even just typing this out, of course, flashes it back, tightening my throat and begging my fingers to get through the paragraph so we can put it away where it belongs.

In my therapist’s office.

At the same time that I was getting this life lesson, the amazing team at UC Berkeley, led by the incredible powerhouse, Dr. Alexa Koenig, was also spending a great deal of time worrying about those in the human rights space and their mental health.

Alexa and her team taught me about vicarious trauma, a term I hadn’t heard before. The team taught me a lot more than that over the years, as you’ll see sprinkled throughout the stories you’ll read here. They developed a massive trove of Resilience Resources, that I recommend to every investigator or journalist that I encounter.

In June of this year, Dr. Koenig and Andrea Lampros, both of UC Berkeley published the book: Graphic: Trauma and Meaning in Our Online Lives. Buy it, put it on your desk. This should almost be required reading before receiving your license to use the Internet, but I’ll propose that legislation another day.

If you’re doing investigative work, human rights research, reading the news (seriously), or seeing imagery or other materials that are upsetting, I highly recommend that you listen, watch and read the resources below.

Take care of yourselves out there and remember that we are no good to anyone as advocates or storytellers if we don’t put our own oxygen masks on first.

Something I am still struggling to get good at, so feel free to hold me accountable.

Justin

Resources Referenced

1. How To Process Disturbing Imagery (UC Berkeley Law - Voices Carry Podcast) - link

2. UC Berkeley Human Rights Center - Resilience Resources - link

3. Graphic: Trauma and Meaning in Our Online Lives - Amazon link