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Vicarious Trauma in Public Interest Lawyering:

-- By IlanaDutton - 15 Feb 2023

Introduction

Someone once told me that I was "empathic to a fault". They qualified the statement, explaining that while being empathetic is what makes me a great friend, it also means I take on other people's issues and problems as my own, even if my cup was already full of my own problems. Until I began working in public interest law, I had no idea how big of a toll that would have on my mental and physical well-being.

In my junior year of college, as an intern with Northwest Immigrants’ Rights Project, I took every case home with me. I'm not referring to the physical case file, but instead to the emotional baggage that each case inevitably came with. It quickly started impacting every aspect of my life, including my relationships with the people around me. People in the office would talk about "self-care" but those felt like empty words to me, since going on walks, exercising, and making time for friends, which are my versions of self-care, didn’t do anything. By the time I finished my internship in May of my senior year, I was feeling detached from the work I was doing, since it was the only way, I could protect myself, but it also made me worse at my job. I was putting in less effort and it was clear in my work, but I did not have the tools to handle the situation any other way.

I did not have the language to understand what I was experiencing until I began working as a legal assistant at Her Justice in New York City after graduating college. During my second week at the organization, our on-staff social worker did a training with me on "vicarious trauma", which was a term I had never heard before. As she was explaining the concept to me, which I hope to do for all of you in the next section, pieces started falling into place and the last two years began to make more sense.

What is Vicarious Trauma?

Vicarious trauma is "a trauma process that occurs over time when an individual is exposed indirectly to the suffering of others for whom they feel responsible. Vicarious trauma often occurs as a result of the empathetic engagement with a client's trauma experience and is different from compassion fatigue and burnout in that those experiencing vicarious trauma have often internalized the traumatic experiences of clients in a way that impacts how they view themselves and the world.

It is impossible to predict exactly how vicarious trauma will impact an individual, but research shows there can be impacts on the physical and mental well-being of attorneys. Mentally, long-term exposure to indirect trauma can impact our ability to regulate emotions, leading to increased anxiety, depression, or aggression. Physically, vicarious trauma can impact appetite, sleep, and the immune system.

Vicarious trauma is by no means a new concept, but in the past, it has been considered an anticipated part of the profession for many public interest lawyers, leading to a culture of avoidance and acceptance, instead of a culture of support. In the past, there was an attitude of either dealing with it or finding a new career, because it meant you couldn’t keep up with the job. While that attitude appears to have changed in a lot of workplaces, it has been internalized, which can make it difficult for people to seek help when they need it.

Without naming and working to address vicarious trauma, lawyers who began their careers with tremendous compassion for their clients can feel that they are losing that compassion. In reality, they are not losing compassion, but instead, the stress of feeling deep compassion for people who have experienced extreme trauma begins to take a toll on the well-being of the attorney, causing them to distance themselves, which can manifest as being less compassionate.

Moving Forward

Unfortunately, just learning the term "vicarious trauma" did not solve all of my problems. It gave me the language to understand what I was experiencing and that I was not alone in it, but I still struggled in balancing empathy, which is one of the things that made me good at my job and maintaining healthy boundaries that would make the type of work I want to do sustainable. By the time I left Her Justice, I was experiencing the mental and physical symptoms of vicarious trauma.

It took me a while to recover, and I still feel the impacts at times, but despite that, I am diving back into public interest law this summer at Kids in Need of Defense. I know this is the career that I want to pursue, so I am going into this summer with a plan to protect my well-being while also bringing compassion to the work. I’m going to speak with my supervisor early, to learn about how they cope with exposure to second-hand trauma. I’m going to maintain a routine, which includes healthy eating and exercise, both of which have been shown to mitigate the impacts of vicarious trauma. Finally, I’m going to try different types of boundaries, to see what works for me. I hope that this summer I can begin building a practice in public interest law that is sustainable.

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