Description

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Taking care of the caregivers—a compassionate guide to healing secondary trauma

A traumatic experience can have profound impacts on the people directly involved. However, that trauma can extend to the professionals like first responders and crisis counselors, as well as the friends and family of trauma survivors—even if it wasn't a firsthand experience.

Healing Secondary Trauma is the gentle guide to help you identify symptoms, understand the feelings, and begin the healing process of your own secondary trauma. With interactive exercises and cutting-edge strategies for caregivers and professionals, it will help you address the daily realities of compassion fatigue, stress, and anxiety. Your journey to recovery from secondary trauma starts here.

Inside this book you'll learn:

• Find yourself again—Learn how to process and manage your emotional responses so you feel calmer, present, and more in control of yourself.
• Plan for wellness—Create a path toward healing with a personalized self-care plan and strategies to regenerate empathy when your compassion stores feel low.
• You're not alone—Stories about everyday people highlight how secondary trauma can affect all of us in different ways.

Begin the healing process from your secondary trauma today.

About the Author

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Trudy Gilbert-Eliot, PhD, is a licensed psychotherapist in Las Vegas, Nevada. She specializes in working with first responders and is a contractor with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Currently in private practice, she supervises other marriage and family therapists and alcohol and drug counselors. She also teaches workshops for the University of Nevada, Reno.

Praise For…

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“With this book, Dr. Gilbert-Eliot provides a thoughtful and easy-to-read guide with simple assessments that should be part of every responder’s tool belt. A few simple "check-ins" can help get someone back on the track to healthy. Each chapter can be read on its own or as part of a healing building-block system. There are many powerful takeaways that will help responders leave the trauma in the field and enjoy and thrive at home. I recommend this book for all who work in trauma-related fields.” —Annette Mullin, Director, Police Employee Assistance Program, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department

“After serving 2 combat tours in the US Army as a mental health technician, I struggled with understanding why I was having strong physical and emotional reactions to events that I experienced secondhand. This workbook normalizes my experience and provides education, guidance, and practical exercises to assist anyone in their journey to understanding and recovering from secondary trauma. It is one of the first of its kind and long overdue.” —SSG Angela J. Leath, USA (Ret), Crisis Intervention Administrator, Las Vegas Fire and Rescue