Toolkit with Report Form - Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic ...

Section five
4. Trauma
◗ A unique individual experience of an
event or enduring condition, in which:
• Victim experiences a threat to life,
bodily integrity, or sanity
• Occurs in a sudden and forceful way
and is experienced as overwhelming
• Victim’s normal coping capacity
and/or ability to integrate emotional
experience is overwhelmed
◗ Can take many forms:
• Domestic violence
• Rape or assault
• Emotional, sexual or physical abuse
• Extremely painful and frightening
medical procedures
• Catastrophic injuries and illnesses
• Muggings
• Burglary
• Witnessing traumatic events,
i.e., murder
• Natural disasters
5. Traumatic Stress
◗ Shifts people away from emotional
safety, emotional balance and
predictability
◗ Disrupts the victim’s ability to return to
stability
6. Vicarious Trauma
◗ The traumatizing effects of working
with victims who have been traumatized
C. considerations
1. Create Your Internal Team
◗ Considerations for developing a team
approach include:
• Staff trained in crisis response or
critical incident response
• Roles that staff, volunteers and the
board of directors can fill
• Diversity of program staff and those
leading the critical incident response to
mirror that of the clients, families and
community
2. Communication (External Inquiries)
◗ Designate individuals who have the
authority to handle media inquiries
• List of media contacts:
– Outlet name
– Contact person
– Contact phone
– Contact email
• One program representative to
have contact with media
– Public message will be
controlled by the program
– If it is necessary to shut down
or reduce services, work with
PCADV to craft a press release
that assures the community that
services are still available and
tells how to access those services
• A program representative to respond
to inquiries about clients receiving
services that may invite a breach of
confidentiality
page 16
When Crisis Strikes | Pennsylvania Coalition Against Domestic Violence | 2012