Fairfax, Va. - With the recent launch of the
Vicarious Trauma Toolkit (VTT), fire and EMS organizations now have evidence-informed tools to address the impact of vicarious trauma on their staff and volunteers.
The VTT helps organizations become vicarious trauma-informed with these tools:
- Vicarious Trauma Organizational Readiness Guide (VT-ORG) is an assessment tool your organization can use that measures five areas of evidence-informed strengths of organizations that are healthy. One VT-ORG is available for each discipline (FIRE, EMS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, VICTIM SERVICES), for staff and/or leadership to fill out and assess the agency’s current capacity as a vicarious trauma-informed organization. The results can then be used to identify which areas have gaps and prioritize next steps to address them.
- Compendium of Resources contains nearly 500 tools that organizations can use to become more informed about vicarious trauma, including policies, research literature, training materials and links to websites, podcasts, and videos. The Compendium can be searched by organizational strategy, topic and discipline, so organizations can find appropriate tools for their agency to use to address gaps they’ve identified.
The project was funded by the Office for Victims of Crime which awarded the grant for this project to Northeastern University’s Institute on Urban Health Research and Practice.
The IAFC was a partner in this collaborative effort that included experts across various disciplines from throughout the U.S. Other national partners included, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, the National Association of State EMS Officials, the National Center for Victims of Crime and the National Children’s Advocacy Center. Local partners were the Center for Violence Prevention & Recovery at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.
What’s Happening Now
Since the toolkit was launched, the VTT team is now presenting workshops at various national conferences to reach the four intended disciplines.
A session on how our discipline can use the VTT will be offered at Fire Rescue International (FRI) in Charlotte, NC on Thursday, July 27 at 3:30 PM.
The IAFC has been honored to be part of this innovative project. It surely will be a useful tool for us, but more importantly, a tremendous resource for our members, and the people they serve.
Explore the Vicarious Trauma Toolkit and see how it can help your organization become vicarious trauma-informed.
About the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC)
The IAFC represents the leadership of firefighters and emergency responders worldwide. IAFC members are the world's leading experts in firefighting, emergency medical services, terrorism response, hazardous materials spills, natural disasters, search and rescue, and public safety legislation. Since 1873, the IAFC has provided a forum for its members to exchange ideas, develop professionally and uncover the latest products and services available to first responders.
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