To prepare:

• Review the Learning Resources on hidden trauma and the cost of caring.
• Recall a client or colleague who, at some point in their life, experienced a trauma. This could be a previous client or colleague with whom you have worked at your field placement or in another professional context. Reflect on how you learned about the trauma and how this exposure to another person’s trauma impacted you, your life, and your work.

Submit a 2-page paper in which you:  

• Identify a specific individual with whom you have worked who experienced a trauma, and briefly describe how you learned about the trauma.
• Describe the impact of this trauma exposure on you as a professional and a person.
• Explain how you were or were not prepared for exposure to this individual’s trauma. In that moment, how did you tend to yourself? Be specific and use examples.
• Explain the extent to which this exposure to the trauma also influenced the mezzo and macro levels of your life and/or work.

Use the Learning Resources to contextualize and analyze your personal experience. Make sure to provide APA citations and a reference list.