The survivors of abuse and exploitation who receive services from assistance programs (APs) are precious and we all want to see their transformation to being thriving and independent people. This is a long process, involving people across multiple disciplines who journey with them short or long term. But too often we forget how precious our caregivers are as well. Just how many qualified, compassionate social workers are there in places like Laos or Bulgaria? Organizations need to do more to protect and sustain their ability to care for the long haul.
Self-care is of course an important aspect of this and is actually one of the most requested workshops I offer. I have designed a three-hour workshop for participants to learn more about how they as individuals (as well as an organization as a whole) can design personal and professionals ways to stay emotionally healthy. But there are other practical ways to equip care-givers to decrease the stress they experience in their work.
The mission of Relentless is to improve the health and well-being of abused, exploited, and trafficked people. One of the key ways in which we accomplish this is by equipping the staff of APs who have daily contact with those they are serving.
Equipping staff makes them more competent and therefore more confident; this increases their resilience and mitigates the crises they can face in the course of a day. When staff is better equipped to handle health issues, the burden of stress at work will lighten; this helps decrease compassion fatigue and burnout.
One would think an organization that runs a shelter for traumatized people or offers community-based services would have a plan to equip their staff (even before they open!) and regularly update their knowledge and practices.
Unfortunately, this is far from reality. Even organizations that are well-known and seemingly have it together are falling far short of this mark. Some are too busy rescuing more girls when they don’t have time to take care of the ones they already have. Others have been in “routine mode” for so long they aren’t looking up and out for new and more effective ways of empowering their people.
There are documents that describe proper organizational guidelines for assistance programs. There are several gaps, however, between the guidelines and the organizations. 1) The APs don’t know they exist because they don’t look for them. 2) The APs don’t read them because they don’t have time. 3) The guidelines tend to be more appropriate for first-world countries that have regulations coming out of their ears. 4) Many, if not 90% of these guidelines are published in English while many APs are run by national staff for whom English is not their first, or even second language. 5) There is a wide gap between reading a bullet list of guidelines and policies and effectively applying them to current interventions.
Relentless distills and applies guidelines to a particular country, region, or even an individual organization during a consultation.
Essential Health Care Practices for Assistance Program Objectives:
Identify areas where assistance programs can apply knowledge and practices regarding health and wellness that empower and protect both staff and beneficiaries of an organization.
Design standardized health care practices and protocols for an assistance program’s interventions.
Formulate an evidence-based plan to equip their beneficiaries in areas of health and wellness.
While there are guidelines and best practices, there’s no solid standardization. Certainly there is no enforcement of good practice unless the donors insist on it. Clearly they are too dazzled by hopeful anecdotes to see potential problems lurking under the surface.
For example, I know of organizations who accidentally allowed a shelter resident to overdose on acetaminophen. Another organization had a scare of a potential HIV exposure of a staff member which could have been mitigated had they followed guidelines for routine HIV testing of their clients.
Some questions that I address in the workshop include:
- The last time you were treating a bleeding wound or a burn, did you wonder if you were doing it properly?
- Have you ever questioned what items should be in a medical kit and how to use them?
- What does it mean when someone is cutting him or herself? Is it a risk for suicide? Why do they do it?
- How can we get our clients (or ourselves) to quit smoking or using other addictive substances?
What if one of the staff makes a mistake and is held legally responsible—this could put an entire organization at risk for a slew of legal problems.
Some of the comments I get from workshop participants include: “Thank you for bringing to my attention all the ways my staff need my support;” and “thank you for bringing practical steps of health care to our staff and clients;” and “I now see my staff taking care of routine first aid issues like it was nothing, whereas before it was required a trip to the emergency room.”
When the staff are able to take advantage of daily life-on-life teaching moments from good nutrition to addiction, survivors are empowered to take more responsibility for their own well-being. Furthermore, they will have a greater capacity to take care of themselves as well as others upon re-integration into mainstream society.
Thank you for your continued financial support. Through your generosity you participate in equipping assistance programs around the world to provide more effective and more holistic care. Together we move people from being victims, to being survivors, to being thrivers!
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