This year, we gather to examine and build tools and resources to care for the caregivers. As professionals working in sexual violence response and prevention, we know that the weight of trauma we carry while accompanying victim-survivors takes a toll on us and our teams.

Supporting victim-survivors in healing trauma is frequently traumatic in and of itself. In a field, and a world, of ever adapting and increasing exposure to trauma for the average person daily, we know that care professionals working with victim-survivors of sexual violence are exposed to an even higher level of trauma routinely, while encountering higher demand for our skills and fewer resources to care for ourselves in the process. We are collectively and individually trauma-saturated.

We hope this conference provides not only information on the systemic issues that allow vicarious trauma to be carried without support and tools for team care and advocacy, but also space for the rest and creativity each of us needs to assess and attend to our own care needs related to our work.

As we spend these three days together, our intention is to lay a foundation of understanding about vicarious trauma and how it shows up in ourselves, our teams, and our work. We will use this base to explore a variety of contexts of sexual violence prevention and response work that carry specific trends and nuances regarding vicarious trauma and how it shows up (working with male victim-survivors, addressing child sexual abuse, and providing support for victim-survivors in non-therapeutic fields such as legal services and lobbying).

We know that coming together to see a fuller picture of vicarious trauma in sexual violence victim-survivor care is the first step in accessing compassion for ourselves and our colleagues, which will enable us to seek the support and solutions we need to thrive in this work. After deep diving into the contextualization of vicarious trauma in our work, we will collectively explore the field of vicarious trauma stewardship, the role of resiliency, and the importance of various modalities for us as care professionals seeking to sustainably address our vicarious trauma.

At the Sexual Assault Center, our mission is, “To provide healing for children, adults, and families affected by sexual assault and to end sexual violence through counseling, education, and advocacy.” We know that this mission can only be accomplished if we also invest in creating networks of supported, sustainable, and systemic care for care-providers.

Our hope is that the information and resources provided in this conference will serve as a reminder of your worth as care professionals, the importance of your wellbeing to the efficacy of your work, and a sampling of the self-and-team-care we should all strive to infuse into the healing we cultivate for others.