Managing Vicarious Trauma and Burnout, 4 April 2025

Vicarious trauma is when we experience our own traumatic stress after encountering stories about the traumatic experiences of others, whether or not we have direct contact with them. Vicarious traumatic stress can be very unpleasant and even overwhelming but is a natural and normal response to the suffering and stress of others. It can also be an opportunity for personal and professional growth, not just a risk factor to be managed.

From this workshop you will learn valuable tools to be able to recognise and self-assess signs of vicarious trauma and burnout, and how to create your own self-care strategy. You will leave the workshop feeling empowered to take care of yourself in your professional and personal life, when exposed to the trauma and suffering of others.

Content includes:

• Vicarious trauma
• Vulnerability to vicarious trauma
• Self-identifying early signs of vicarious trauma
• Burnout
• Self-identifying early signs of burnout
• Organisational strategies to manage vicarious trauma
• Professional self-care strategies
• Individual self-care assessment
• Personal self-care strategies

Who should attend?
Essential for anyone dealing with people who have experienced trauma or are exposed to traumatic content via people’s stories, images, reports and other types of documents.

Our Trainer - Nooria Mehraby
Senior Clinician/Trainer

Herself a former refugee, Nooria has more than 30 years’ experience working with refugees both overseas and here in Australia. This includes over 25 years at STARTTS. Nooria first trained as a medical doctor in her native Afghanistan and later obtained a Master of Counselling with Distinction in Australia. Nooria is an experienced national and international conference speaker and is the author of multiple publications (including textbook contributions) on refugee trauma, cross-cultural approaches and working with children. Nooria has lectured in various universities in NSW and has facilitated clinical workshops across Australia. In her current position as STARTTS’ Senior Clinician/ Trainer, she brings clinical expertise to STARTTS’ wide range of training programs and regularly delivers workshops to service providers.

Workshop delivery

STARTTS workshops are delivered by trainers experienced in the trauma field. They are interactive and normally include small group discussions via breakout rooms, case studies, self-reflections, videos and other types of activities. This workshop is delivered via Zoom. The Zoom link will be included in the registration confirmation email and the reminder emails.

Certificates and handouts
A PDF of the slides will be emailed to you a day before the event. A certificate of completion will be emailed to you the day after the event.

CPD points – 4 CPD hours
This workshop adheres to the continuing professional development standards of most professional bodies. Please check the CPD policy of your professional body.

Note that there are 5 Early Bird Tickets available for purchase 2 months and earlier before the workshop date.

Terms and conditions
Payment of the registration fee is online by credit card and a receipt/confirmation will be automatically emailed to you. An administration fee of $30 applies to all cancellations made more than 14 days the day before the start of the event. Registration once paid cannot be cancelled 14 days or less the day before the start of the event, regardless of personal circumstances. Registration can be transferred to another delegate only if STARTTS is informed of the name change. Registration cannot be transferred to another workshop. The concession price is for full-time students, seniors and the unemployed. A photocopy or pdf of a valid concession card must be forwarded to the STARTTS training team upon registration. Registrations will not be confirmed until full payment is received. The deadlines for the early bird and standard prices cannot be extended. Sometimes STARTTS will need to change the trainer of a particular workshop. The STARTTS Training Team can be contacted at stts-training@health.nsw.gov.au or (02) 9646 6700.