Institutional Trauma:

The Role of a Trauma

Counselor in EAP

Brenda Wilson, LCSW, CEAP

Joyce Camden-McCusty, LCSW

Faculty & Employee Assistance Programwww.uvafeap.com

434.243.2643

UVA & Charlottesville

Community- Fall 2014

3 Student Suicides

Rolling Stones:

Assault on UVA

Trauma position - .5 FTE

• If 1 in 5 women & 1 in 16 men have experienced sexual assault in college– UVA/HS staff & faculty are a well educated group, 21650 ee’s total

• EAP has always known that historic trauma can show up in work relationships, esp manager : employee conflict/bullying perception

• Time to talk about sexual assault, name it

• Asked for resources and a month later it was approved

Initially Envisioned

• Sexual assault intervention– historic & acute

• Interpersonal violence

• Education, ie FEAP seminars for staff and managers

• Expand to 1-12 sessions for this population

• Stabilize, educate, crisis management, counseling, community connections

• Pre/post outcomes intended

“Give sorrow words.

The grief that does not speak

Whispers o’erfraught heart,

And bids it break.”MacBeth, William Shakespeare

Causes of PTSD

• Acute Trauma

Overwhelming Single Event

• Cumulative Exposure

Series of Events

Ongoing Pattern

Trauma

Traumatic Stress occurs

“when our ability to respond

to threat is overwhelmed.”

~Peter Levine

Reactions to Trauma

• Fight

• Flight

• Freeze

• Tend/ Befriend

Fight Reaction

Flight Reaction

Imaging a flashback with fMRI

Freeze Reaction

Blanking out (dissociation)

Tend/ Befriend

Signs Which May Be Visible

• Easily startled or jumpy

• Appears sad, and may be tearful

• Displays reduced emotional expression, flat affect

• Displays irritability or has angry outbursts

• Increase in absences and/or late arrivals

• Behaving distanced, withdrawn, or cut off from team

• Less verbal

Signs Which May Not Be

Visible

• Repeated disturbing memories, thoughts, or images of the stress event(s)

• Repeated disturbing dreams of the event(s)

• Suddenly acting or feeling as if the stressful experience were happening again

• Having physical reaction (e.g., heart pounding, trouble breathing, or sweating) when something reminds the person of the stressful experience

Non Visible Signs (continued)

• Avoiding activities, situations, or places because they remind the person of the experience

• Loss in interest of activities which used to be enjoyed

• Feeling emotionally numb

• Feeling as if the future will somehow be cut short

• Trouble falling or staying asleep

• Being “super alert”, watchful, or on guard

Identifying Danger

Patterns of Attention

Normal PTSD

PTSD Screening Tool

In your life, have you ever had any experience that was so

frightening, horrible, or upsetting that, in the past month, you:

have had nightmares about it or thought about it when you

did not want to?

YES NO

tried hard not to think about it or went out of your way to

avoid situations that reminded you of it?

YES NO

were constantly on guard, watchful, or easily startled? YES NO

felt numb or detached from others, activities, or your

surroundings?

YES NO

3.38

1.72

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

Pre-Interview Post-Interview

PCL Score

Group Pre-Interview Post-Interview

Mean 3.3788 1.7231

SD 0.6785 0.4504

SEM 0.1696 0.1126

N 16 16

The Win-Win Equation

• Employee receives services and connects with resources

• Employee reduces symptoms and suffering

• Employee becomes more productive and feels better

• Employee develops deep sense of loyalty to Manager/Team

• Team feels the benefits

• Work environment can be more positive and adaptive

• Manager has high functioning employees

• Manager has expanded skills as a leader

Gratitude

“I strongly encourage anyone who has experienced trauma first hand or who is in a relationship with a trauma survivor to seek support through FEAP. The experience will be a profound gift to your loved ones…and to yourself.”

“Joyce was instrumental in helping us stabilize. Her support enabled me, as a University employee, to attend to my tasks at work at the same time as I am dealing with family matters that might otherwise have overwhelmed me. We are very grateful that FEAP is providing this service.”

Sweet Darkness

When your eyes are tired the world is tired also.

When your vision has gone no part of the world can find you.

Time to go into the dark where the night has eyes to

recognize its own.

There you can be sure you are not beyond love.

The dark will be your womb tonight.

The night will give you a horizon further than you can see.

You must learn one thing. The world was made to be free in.

Give up all the other worlds except the one to which you

belong.

Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet confinement of

your aloneness to learn

Anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small

for you.

~David Whyte

Questions, Suggestions, Ideas?