To improve the quality of assistance provided to refugees and other persons of concern, UNHCR together with two specialized psychotherapists organized a training session on the prevention of secondary traumatization and burnout for UNHCR staff and partners Vaša Prava BiH and the Ministry of Security/Sector for Asylum, on 12 and 13 April 2022.
Working directly with people who are forced to flee their country can have an impact on the persons who are hearing their stories on a daily basis. After various conversations with partner staff, UNHCR initiated this training to provide support to our partners to deal with secondary traumatization and tools to prevent burnout.
“Helpers become more exposed to significant stress when they work with trauma victims. This can lead to many negative consequences that can affect their own health as well as their performance at work,” said Ms. Belma Žiga, one of the psychotherapists who facilitated the training.
By discussing the basic concepts and forms of trauma, the participants gained an improved understanding of what (secondary) trauma is, the various forms of traumas, how to recognize trauma, how to communicate with persons who are traumatized and the various ways to deal with trauma, while interactive exercises were conducted to put the theory of trauma into practice.
“UNHCR recognizes that working with refugees can be extremely demanding. Refugees are forced to flee their homes because of conflicts or persecution, they go through traumatic events which can also affect the people working with them. It is therefore very important that we equip our partners, including the government partners who deal with refugees every day, with appropriate tools to manage their own stress and emotions. In the end, it can have an impact on the quality of the assistance that we provide to refugees and other persons of concern to UNHCR,” said Hugues Bissot, Senior Protection Officer of UNHCR Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The second half of the training was focused on compassion fatigue and burnout prevention. Participants shared their experiences and discussed with the psychotherapists the challenges of working with refugees and listening to their traumatic stories. Information was provided on how to recognize the signs of compassion fatigue and burnout and techniques were shared on how it can be prevented and dealt with.
Importance of self-care was the topic of the last session. The participants were engaged in various exercises and learned how to do a muscle relaxation exercise that can be used to reduce stress.
The training was well-received by participants who found it very helpful learn more about this topic and get familiarized with the tools used to deal with secondary traumatization and prevention of burnout.
“This training was extremely useful. Now, I feel better equipped to talk to asylum-seekers and refugees who are traumatized and at the same time will be able to take better care of myself to prevent a burnout,” said one of the participants, a lawyer working for Vaša Prava BiH.
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