Stress and Secondary Trauma in Helping Professions
Available with English captions and subtitles in Spanish.
Explore how stress and secondary trauma affect those in helping roles, and how to sustain resilience over time.
Why This Training Matters
Secondary trauma often develops gradually, making it difficult to recognize until emotional exhaustion, detachment, or overwhelm become pronounced. Without language or context, those in helping professions may blame themselves rather than understand these responses as occupational risks.
This session reframes secondary trauma as a normal, human reaction to emotionally demanding work. Understanding how stress accumulates helps reduce self-blame and supports more intentional recovery.
By learning how to identify early signs of secondary trauma and apply practical strategies, viewers gain tools that support both personal well-being and professional longevity.
What You’ll Learn
- How secondary trauma and chronic stress develop
- Emotional and physical signs of overload
- Differences between burnout and vicarious trauma
- Grounding and recovery strategies
- Boundary-setting in high-pressure roles
- Building sustainable resilience
Key Takeaways
Participants leave this session with validation, clarity, and practical tools for long-term well-being.
- Secondary trauma is a common and treatable occupational risk in helping roles.
- Emotional exhaustion is a signal that support is needed, not a personal shortcoming.
- Small, consistent recovery practices can restore balance over time.
- Healthy boundaries protect those in helping professions and the people they support.
- Sustainable helping requires sustainable care for oneself.
Together, these insights reinforce resilience, balance, and the possibility of long-term engagement in helping work.
Learning Objectives
After viewing this session, participants will be able to:
- Identify signs of stress and secondary trauma in helping roles
- Differentiate between burnout, compassion fatigue, and vicarious trauma
- Apply practical strategies to support resilience and emotional recovery
Who Should Watch
- Mental health professionals (psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, nurses, counselors, and therapists)
- Health care professionals
- Community & public health leaders
- Education & school professionals
- Faith & community leaders
- Individuals & families
- Parents & caregivers
- Workplace & organizational leaders
Event Details
- Date Recorded: February 10, 2026
- Length: 60 minutes
- Presenter: Steve Bisson, LMHC
Watch this free session anytime to better understand secondary trauma and learn strategies to protect your well-being while continuing your essential work.
Topics Covered During This Training
- Can you share an overview of your professional background and experience?
- How would you describe secondary trauma in everyday terms?
- How is secondary trauma different from simply having a hard week at work? Is there a certain threshold that gets crossed?
- Do helpers often miss the signs of secondary trauma or stress in themselves?
- Is there a tendency among first responders—and helpers more broadly—to normalize exhaustion as just part of the job?
- Caring deeply is often what makes someone effective in a helping role, but can that same empathy also put them at risk for secondary trauma?
- Is there value in reframing secondary trauma as an occupational risk rather than a sign of weakness or personal failure? How would you go about doing that?
- What lessons from your work with first responders have you applied to your broader clinical practice when it comes to navigating stress and secondary trauma?
- What are some common misconceptions that people outside helping professions have about what first responders—and helpers in general—experience in terms of stress and secondary trauma?
- In accessible, non-clinical terms, how does chronic stress impact the nervous system?
- What is dissociation, and how does it show up in the context of secondary trauma?
- Are people typically aware when they are dissociating, or does it tend to go unnoticed?
- What are the emotional, physical, and mental red flags that someone may be experiencing secondary trauma or stress overload?
- What are the key distinctions between vicarious trauma, burnout, and compassion fatigue?
- Beyond the warning signs already discussed, what else is important for helpers to know about recognizing secondary trauma and stress in themselves?
- Some helpers feel guilty seeking support because they perceive their work as less intense than life-and-death first responder roles. What would you say to those helpers?
- What are some practical in-the-moment techniques for regulating the nervous system when stress or secondary trauma becomes overwhelming?
- Does regularly practicing regulation techniques—such as breathing exercises—make it easier to use them effectively in high-stress moments?
- What in-the-moment regulation strategies are particularly useful for clinicians who find themselves emotionally numb or shutting down during a session?
- How do you distinguish between recovery and self-care? What does each term mean in this context?
- How do you respond to helpers who say they simply do not have time for self-care? How do you reframe the idea that taking time for oneself is selfish?
- What kinds of boundaries do people in helping roles tend to have the most difficulty setting for themselves?
- How should helpers—including clinicians—communicate their boundaries around availability to the people they support?
- What strategies would you recommend for clinicians who are working with patients who are in helping roles themselves and are struggling with secondary trauma or stress?
- What advice would you offer to someone who loves or lives with a person in a helper role who is struggling with secondary trauma or stress?
- If a loved one in a helper role is showing signs of secondary trauma but is not recognizing it themselves, what is the most helpful way to approach that conversation?
- What are the most important takeaways for people in helping roles to walk away from this conversation with?
The information discussed is intended to be educational and should not be used as a substitute for guidance provided by your health care provider. Please consult with your treatment team before making any changes to your care plan.
Resources
You may also find this additional information useful:
- Resilience Development in Action: First Responder Mental Health (Podcast)
- The Body Keeps the Score – book by Bessel van der Kolk
- Video: Understanding Trauma and Trauma-Related Disorders
- Guide: Understanding Trauma & PTSD – A Guide to Invisible Wounds
- Guide: Understanding Grief – How We Mourn, Heal, and Move Forward After Loss
- PTSD Screening
- Caring for Others, Coping Ourselves: Stories From the Health Care Community
- Lived Experience at the Frontline: First Responders Share Their Journeys
- Guide: Serving Together: How Trauma Affects Military Families
- Edmund’s Story: I Hope That by Speaking Up, It Helps Other First Responders
About the Expert
Steve Bisson, LMHC, specializes in working with first responders, including police, fire, and EMT personnel experiencing trauma, PTSD, and burnout. He has worked in multiple high-pressure settings, including jails, courts, and probation departments. He is also the host of “Resilience Development in Action,” a podcast focused on first-responder mental health, trauma, stress, and real-world resilience.
