An in-house workshop for teams whose work exposes them to other people's trauma: we come to you, or meet you online. Your staff learn what the exposure does to them over time, how to notice it early, and what actually protects them.
Some jobs carry trauma exposure as part of the work, and the harm from it builds quietly unless someone names it.
The business case
beyondblue, Answering the Call: national survey of the mental health and wellbeing of police and emergency services (2018), 21,014 respondents; Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia 2025 (October 2025); PwC for Beyond Blue and the National Mental Health Commission.
Nobody develops vicarious trauma in a single afternoon, which is the problem. Exposure accumulates across months of ordinary work, and the people most at risk are usually the ones least likely to say anything, because absorbing difficult material is what the job is. By the time it surfaces as a claim it is a psychological injury, and those keep a person away from work for a median of 35.7 weeks.
Under the Model WHS Regulations you must identify psychosocial hazards and control the risks so far as is reasonably practicable. Exposure to traumatic events or material is one of the named hazards, and so is exposure to workplace violence and aggression. Training does not discharge that duty on its own, but it is documented evidence of a control measure, which is the record regulators and insurers ask to see.
What participants learn
Each one is a specific, practical thing your staff can use the day after the workshop.
Understand what vicarious trauma and cumulative stress are, and how the risk arises in their own role
Recognise the signs and symptoms in themselves and in colleagues, and describe the emotional impact
Identify their own trauma response style, and where they sit on the continuum of reactions
Use a range of strategies that lower the risk, from boundaries and debriefing to sleep, exercise and how they think about the work
Draw on vicarious resilience, which is the meaning and satisfaction this work also produces
Compare formats & start the conversation
Pick the format that looks closest, tell us your numbers, and whether you are thinking onsite or online. We'll call you to talk it through and shape a quote around what your team actually needs. Tap a card to choose it. Not sure? Pick the standard option and we'll sort it out together on the call.
Every format is run in-house for your own team, at your offices or online, so we come to you. Groups of 10 to 20 work best, and this subject rewards the smaller end of that. Large-group seminar and webinar formats and short lunch and learn sessions are also available when you need to reach more of your team at once. Every format is quoted per workshop. Tell us the scope and we’ll put a written quote together.
Outcomes
How it works
Tell us team size, format and rough timing.
2 minutesA short conversation about your team, then a quote built around what you actually need.
Personalised discussionThe examples are drawn from the material your people actually handle, whether that is a caseload, a call queue or a crime scene.
1–2 weeks outAt your offices or online, by an experienced facilitator.
2 hoursWho delivers it
Associated EAP workshops are delivered by degree-qualified counsellors or registered psychologists, or adult education specialists where appropriate. Many of our facilitators also work clinically alongside their training, so the examples in the room come from real practice rather than a manual.
Associated EAP has provided employee assistance and workplace training for over 20 years. Workshops are delivered at your own offices, or online.
This workshop is run by people who do clinical work themselves, which matters here more than on most topics. Managing your own exposure to other people's trauma is a working condition of their profession too, so the strategies in the room are ones the facilitator uses rather than ones they have read about.
What participants say
“I have done many sessions relating to vicarious trauma and I found this to be the most useful in terms of what we can do practically to manage our thoughts, emotions and behaviours”
“It was helpful for us not just in terms of vicarious trauma – but in general terms of recognising stress, which we now understand creates a heightened risk of suffering these symptoms”
“We were engaged throughout the session. It was a true discussion with exercises.”
“Our facilitator created a very welcoming environment where I felt comfortable to share my thoughts”
“Vital training for journalists”
Trusted by
Common questions
Every format is quoted per workshop rather than per person, so the cost does not climb with every extra head in the room. What shapes it is the format you choose, your group size, your location, and whether you want the standard two-hour session or an immersive half or full day.
Every organisation's needs are different, which is why we don't do one-size-fits-all quotes. Tell us the scope of what you're after and we'll put together a written quote so you know exactly what you're getting before you book.
Two hours as standard, delivered in person at your premises or online over Zoom. Immersive half-day and full-day programs are also available, as are short lunch and learn sessions and large-group seminar or webinar formats.
Any role where exposure to other people's trauma is a regular and ongoing part of the job rather than a one-off event. That includes police, ambulance and rescue workers, social and community workers, child protection and family services, mental health and health staff, journalists, and claims, complaints and contact centre teams who handle distressing material. If your people work with trauma-exposed clients, or read, watch or listen to traumatic material, they are in scope.
No, and the difference matters when you are choosing. Trauma-informed practice training is about the people you serve, so that your service does not re-traumatise them. This workshop is about your own staff, and what repeated exposure to that work does to the person doing it. The two sit well together and organisations often run both, but only one of them protects your workforce.
It is a working session rather than a lecture. Participants learn what vicarious trauma is and how it builds, then locate their own reactions on a continuum, practise the self-care strategies, and take part in a facilitated discussion where the group can share what the work is actually like. Where it helps, we explain your own employee assistance program and the critical incident support available, so people leave knowing what to reach for.
It happens, and the facilitator is a clinician, which is the main reason we run this workshop the way we do. Distress in the room is handled calmly and privately, the session keeps its shape for everyone else, and the person is pointed to real support afterwards rather than left with a phone number on a slide. If your organisation has an employee assistance program we will explain how to reach it on the day.
Anywhere from 10 to 20 participants, and this is a workshop that rewards the smaller end of that range. People will only talk about what the work costs them in a group they trust, and the facilitated discussion is where most of the value sits.
Four to six weeks is comfortable, and it gives us time to tailor the material to the work your people actually do. If something has happened and you need support sooner, call us, and ask us about critical incident response as well as training.
Often booked together
The general-purpose version of the same protective habits, for teams whose pressure is workload rather than trauma.
See the workshop →For teams who sit with loss as part of the work, and never quite know what to say.
See the workshop →For frontline staff absorbing aggression and distress from the public, where the exposure is direct rather than vicarious.
See the workshop →Tell us your team size, preferred format and rough timing. We'll call you to talk it through, then build a quote around what your team actually needs.
