Vicarious Trauma avoidance
A barrier to being open with others about
disclosures of sexual abuse
or news of an alleged offender being arested
is vicarious trauma avoidance.
fear of how others may respond
and/ or fear that discussing the news ( as in marative therapy) may trigger ones own memories
of traumatic events in ones own life,
My strong conviction at Auburn in the nineties was that the congregation needed independant Child Protection Seminar leaders
to come and help us through what I have now identified and named vicarious trauma.