During the course of 2018 Karen developed The Trauma Stewardship Programme in conjunction with the Critical Care team at The Royal Bournemouth NHS Trust. Initially aimed at helping those with symptoms of secondary trauma in the Emergency Services the TSP is now being rolled out into the corporate sector
The TSP implements strategies to help recognise and address the personal effects of traumatic experiences, on staff exposed to them daily, as opposed to internalising them. The programme comprised initial one to one sessions with participants, weekly small group sessions, on-going task sheets and WhatsApp media prompts.
The TSP pilot last year proved the effectiveness of the programme. Participants completed a psychometric evaluation questionnaire at the initial one-to-one session and again at the end of the twelve week programme to asses their progress. The questionnaire asked how often they experienced feelings based on the list shown below and participants scored there answers by allocating points ranked: Never – 0, Seldom – 1, Often – 2, Always – 4
Do you often feel helpless and/or hopeless
Do you ever feel your efforts will never be enough
Have you become hypervigilant
Has your creativity diminished
Do you have an inability to embrace creativity
Do you minimise with yourself
Are you experiencing chronic exhaustion
Are you finding it difficult to listen or do you practise deliberate avoidance
Have you experienced dissociative moments
Do you feel a sense of unjust treatment or persecution
Do you often feel a sense of guilt
Do you find it difficult to connect with feelings of fear
Do you feel a sense of anger or cynicism
Do you struggle to empathise with others
Do you have any addictions
Grandiosity: do you have an inflated sense of importance