Trauma Stewardship

This book is so validating. It's full of relatable observations and insights from those living in the land of secondary trauma. The validation alone was heartening. It also relays some things we can do differently, individually and as cultures. This is a book I will be keeping and sharing with colleagues.

This book was such an easy read and helped me reflect on how my works affects other aspects of my daily life. This taught me about self-reflection and the importance of self care.

This book was helpful in learning useful tips to avoid the negative effects of trauma. I also found the author's personal story from her time spent working as an emergency social worker to be compelling and insightful.

I'm so grateful to the Ford Foundation for providing this book. We are making great use of it in my trauma-rich organization. Full of anecdotes that resonate and useful practices, this book should be on the required reading list for everyone who has the honor of working with people who have experienced trauma.

This is a great book that is helpful for anyone in a "helper" career and outlines how many people fall into burnout and vicarious traumatization. It contains many hands-on tools and concepts that provide awareness of overall wellness and self care. Highly receommended!

A great book full of insight to prevent helping professionals from burnout. This book will be kept on my shelf for years to come and re-read multiple times. A highly recommended read.

Been wanting to read this book since I attended the training through my job. Every since that day I used what I learned in those couple hours. Definitely recommend this book 100%.

Initially I must have been experiencing too much trauma fatigue to really focus on what was being said and just wanted to move on (audio book). However, with the personal narratives and cartoon descriptions it got much better.

After seeing Laura at a seminar, I was really interested in her book, and it is such a valuable resource for caregivers and those in helping professions! As a social worker working in a mental health space, compassion fatigue and burnout is very real. Will be sharing with my coworkers who also sorely need this material.

I loved this book with its comics that are spot-on with the topic at hand. Although I believe after 10 years in the field that I have a grip on secondhand trauma, I learned some new things that I am incorporating into my daily practice. Thank you!

Really enjoyed the book. Really opened my eyes.

The helps us understand our own responses to trauma and provides a path of renewal. It offers tools to bring us back to a place of balance where we can be more effective in our work, more present with our families, and more importantly, more at peace in our own soul. The real life stories are mirroring our own experiences.

I work in social services and this book is a wonderful tool for me and my co workers.

Trauma Stewardship is an interesting concept. I love that fact that someone is finally recognizing the emotional and spiritual toll service work can have. When I first picked up the book, I found it hard to read. I read several chapters and put it down for weeks with the thought that it was too dense, that I did not have time to devote to the material. Funnily enough, it was my workplace's focus on trauma stewardship that helped me engage with the material. Once I had taken several seminars about being present and being aware, I picked up Trauma Stewardship once again and started over, this time with clear intention to be present as I read. What a difference it made! I would recommend this book to anyone in a helping profession. I feel more better able to access my center and be more grounded after reading it and it has helped me do better work while creating a better home/work balance.

I like the idea of career specific self help. But feel this info is already available in more engaging books and publications. Still a fair starter book for budding personal care providers.

Important things to remember.

This book was great for anyone looking into or helping others with trauma. I found this to be a helpful tool.

This is a great book for educators and any profession that deals with people who are affected by trauma. We may be using this book as a book study this year with our district's new teachers. Thank you for this resource!

engaging. exposing long held patterns from my own trauma and the years of hearing trauma while working child welfare.

This was an excellent book about integrating what makes us well with what serves the common good of the world. I enjoyed the serious, yet lighthearted approach. The author addressed both the personal and systemic nature of effective self-care. The many case studies were helpful to read real-life examples of applied trauma stewardship. Highly recommended for all caregivers!

This is a must read for all of us who work in with others. It's making me more aware of my own need for self-care and self-reflection.

Good book, thought provoking, I paired it with some of the Authors Ted Talks. I highly recommend reading it if you work in a field where you are dealing with Trauma first or Second hand

It is a great book, we are reading it as an agency at work. So excited for the Author to be at our mid year agency wide staff meeting.

This book gave me a different perspective on how to deal with the secondhand trauma that I receive through my job.

I ordered the audio book on DVD - it won’t play on any of my devices. Borrowed the print version of the book, though, and it’s a very worthwhile read.

I was skeptical about reading this book because I thought much of it would be stating the obvious, but it is written in a thoughtful humorous ,compassionate and practical way. In short, it is a book that makes you step back and think about what you are doing.

When I first started reading this book I wasn't sure what to expect. As I continued there were a lot of aha moments. My favorite thing about this book was when she talks about needing a vacation, everyone around her was telling her that she needed a vacation, her family, her friends, her coworkers. So finally years after they first started telling her that she needed a vacation she went on that vacation. As she is hiking with her family she comes to a cliff, almost a mountain range. She's thinking about the nearest trauma one Center and how many people have committed suicide here, and as she says some of this out loud her family is looking at her like she's crazy. It's then that her aha moment hit her, that the trauma of her work has affected her.For me I think about that stuff all the time and this is my aha moment, this book; so, as I continue to find my Center this book is helping me. It is helping me into realizing all of my aha moment and how I have trauma from the work that I do; which, is also bringing up the trauma for my past. As I find myself, to center myself, I can allow myself to help others.

this is a wonderful book. The things I learned about myself will indeed help me to avoid carrying the load from my clients in my future endeavors. Self-care is so important in the human services field.

I found this book incredible informative and insightful with a plethora of valuable information. I would recommend this book to anyone who works with individuals in stressful life circumstances.

A perfect book for both experienced people in support roles and those just staring the journey.

Absolutely loved this book!

I loved this book. Helped me with a lot of my childhood trauma and looking at situations differently.

Excellent book. Came highly recommended by several of my colleagues. Important information for anyone in social and human services.

Insightful read. I selected this book because I work at a school district with a high rate of poverty and thought I might learn something useful to share with our homeless student advocates. So I was very surprised to discover I was experiencing many of the thoughts and behaviors associated with trauma stewardship. It was also interesting to learn about the experiences of people in career field I would not have associated with trauma exposure.

This book is essential for those in the helping professions. It gives you the warning signs of burnout, steps you can take to combat it, and helps gives you ideas of how to structure your life so that you can prevent it completely. Self-care is so important!!

I enjoyed this book and found a lot of good information in it. The narrator stumbled a little in the beginning, but did a good job overall and was easy to listen to. I really enjoyed the quotes that the author chose to include throughout the book. The author also included cartoons for each chapter. In the audio book she describes these for the listener. This book combines real-life stories with some self care advice. I choose to get the audiobook version to listen to in the car, but was unable to since it is a MP3 disc. If you have an older disc player you may want to consider getting one of the other versions. I used my computer to listen to it and it worked fine.

I had the privilege to meet Laura this year. She is an amazing speaker and her book is even more thorough. It has definitely put into perspective what it is like when you are surrounded by any level of trauma. This book is highly recommended to anyone in the field of Social work as well as anyone who has had trauma in their lives.

Great book! Had a way of getting me to look in the mirror, and actually see the real me. Not just the person that keeps going, and handles what ever I need to do, but the person that really is being effected by all this trauma I deal with. I have been to many trainings on self care, however, until I read this book I didn't really understand why I should practice what I have learned. My thoughts have always been, when I have time someday I will worry about me. Right now I need to just push forward for those that I take care of need my care more then I do. Thank you for opening my eyes.

This book isn't just for professionals and students, but important for every day lives. There are different care givers in the book and how to have different relationships with each or learn how others do. Throughout the book are cartoons that help get the messages across as well. I find it helpful in balancing my mind every day.

I recognize so much of myself in this book. I appreciate the author's calm and nonjudgmental style, as well as her humor in the face of truly difficult issues. Her compassion for herself and the examples allowed me to dig deep and reflect on the ways I need to recognize and shift some of my habits and my mentality. I teach in prisons, and it's a difficult thing to hold many conflicting emotions and painful stories (for all involved) at once. I appreciate not only the suggested mindframes, but also the clear example that I am not alone in the ways I feel in relation to my work.

In my current work field, this book is part of a weekly reading. I listened to the audio book and felt I wasn’t fully tuned in. The paperback version is great! Useful in the human services department but could be shared with many professions.

I had the Opportunity to see Laura speak in Medford, Oregon a few months ago. This book is a must read for Social Workers who feel the burnout from working in this career field. This book beautifully outlines how any of us may fall into burnout and vicarious traumatization, having periodically experienced both over my career and fighting my way out.

Book was very good

This book really gives you a glimpse of reality of the kind of work that we do in social services. I would recommend it to anyone who works close to people who have been affected by some sort of trauma.

This book presents many concepts and ideas of self care that those working in this field likely already have heard, many times over, but have not fully embraced yet. Laura presents the information not as a trainer but as someone involved in the work sharing what has worked and not worked with a peer. This book is full of relatable stories and insights from someone who ignored self care until it was nearly too late. It is worth reading for those tidbits of wisdom that can be personally applied so that one can continue to serve others to their full capacity.

Great book! Highly recommend for those working in the helping professions. Self-care is crucial!

Excellent book. She is also great in person and I hear she is coming out with a new book. Highly recommend! Eye opener in the way of looking at burn out and self care.

This is a fantastic book for everyone, especially people in the health care system. It is a must read. It is nice in CD form so that people that are already too busy can read in the car. A lot of great information and validation found in this book around compassion fatigue and burn out.

This book gave me the basic tools to have staying power in a position working with vulnerable and traumatized populations. I love my work and want to be able to keep doing it. After reading Trauma Stewardship I have key skills I need to decompress after working with a client through a traumatizing event, and not carry forward my negative emotions or stress regarding their experience. The first part of the book was like ‘looking into a mirror’. The author explored reasons why people are attracted to public service work. She encouraged mindfulness around this from the readers to avoid the risk of burnout and working in an ineffective way. This approach gave me insight into why I have chosen a career in public serve and allowed me to better frame my thinking around my career choices. The second section of the book gave key tools and habits for maintaining longevity in a public service career and also taking control over the choices the reader makes around their career. This section essentially gave the reader permission to take care of themselves in order to continue their work. I was already interested in theories surrounding organizational culture before reading this book. Unfortunately, many public service leaders are not comfortable with the words ‘secondary trauma,’ nor do they believe that their work with traumatized populations has an effect on them or their coworkers and employees. I tend to run up against this set of believes when speaking about building supportive organizational cultures. Reading this book gave me a framework for identifying, and calling out harmful mindsets as well as arguments to use with other professional when discussing the importance of addressing secondary trauma within an organization.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It is an extremely topic that does not get enough attention and the author, Laura vanDernoot Lipsky, presents the idea of trauma stewardship with dignity and humor. I appreciated the case studies and examples found throughout the book!

Compassionate and valuable.

Trauma Stewardship, An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others by Laura vanDernoot Lipsky is definitely just what it says. In my profession and others, where compassionate healing of trauma within others and myself, this book is a source of wisdom, understanding and peace. There is now scientific evidence that meditation for at least 8 minutes per day will reverse the freezing effect to our genes and brain cells, and in so doing, reverse trauma. This book provides several meditation practices. It is loaded with cartoons and humor that wisely drive home important aspects of our lives, thinking and stresses. We are using this book in an organization book circle. Such a powerful way to meet trauma-informed care and move forward in awareness of self, community and our present and future contributions. I am sharing this book with everyone - my family, friends and co-workers. I am grateful that Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, along with Connie Burk, have taken this path and then brought others and me with them.

This books offered many insights into my interactions with those in trauma. At times, it was like looking in a mirror. This is essential reading for all who tend to the needs of others. You will emerge more comfortable and less stressed.

This is a must read for anyone who entering into a new job have been working for many years in an area were you work with others who are experiencing trauma or working for a cause. As this book not only brings what is often called burnout of empathy fatigue out of the shadows. But also offers simple and doable techniques to find balance as a human. So we can keep living our life with purpose and mission, while doing the hard work we believe while building and maintaining our own relationships and connection with others .

Laura van Dernoot Lipsky and Connie Burk put together a highly impactful book that addresses the importance of self care following the introduction to a framework for a trauma exposure response that professionals who work with others in trauma experience. The book also speaks to specific strategies within the framework of the 5 Directions that includes identifying a daily practice of centering one's self. Laura van Dernoot Lipsky has a TED Talk where she candidly and humorously speaks to her experiences in trauma work and self care over the past 25 years, and I also had opportunity to see her speak at the Whole Child Summit 2018 in Portland, Oregon this year. She is very engaging, and seeing her on on-line or in person will strengthen your connection to her work.

This book was an eye opener for me and gave me a lot of insight into my own vicarious trauma.

A MUST READ for anyone working in social services. I had many "ah-ha!" moments reading this book. Cannot say enough wonderful things about it!

This book came to me at a perfect time in my career. I've already recommended it to anyone who will sit long enough to hear my excitement over this book. An essential read for anyone who faces secondary trauma in their work.

I really enjoyed this book as it relates to the work that I do.

It was an emotionally heavy book but totally worth the read.

This book is a must read for anyone working in Social Services. The writing style keeps you engaged as you learn new self care techniques.

An excellent book for those of us who have experienced the effects of secondary trauma. Laura's writing is engaging, entertaining, and thought-provoking. I recommend this book!

This book has been an invaluable resource and sounding board for my journey as a public servant, as a woman and as a human being in our society today. Too often we are encouraged to run ourselves into the ground in effort to show our dedication to our jobs. This book has helped me identify the damaging actions I take in a perverted attempt to show my value. I am so grateful to the author for writing this book and to the Ford Family Foundation for making it available to me. Otherwise, it may have taken me years of self-abuse to realize that sometimes, I am the one doing the damage to myself!!

This book is great! I like the use of humor via the cartoons. I can say that I now respect my self-care routine thanks to this book. This is a must read by every social worker out there!

Laura has an amazing way of speak to her audience. combined with her own experiences, forethought, and research, she paints the reality of what happens in the minds and hearts of those who are affected by those they help. Her advice is practical and backed by research. This book was very helpful in my own healing of being affected by vicarious trauma and I play her words in my mind daily when I work with those in my community. A must read for anyone who works aside others affected by trauma, in all its various forms.

As soon as I opened Trauma Stewardship I found a resource that I didn't know I was looking for. The concept of "stewardship" in relation to secondary trauma exposure is something that both validates the challenge and honor of the work so many teachers do and don't have a name for. This book provides real ways to balance honor and care with mindful practice.

This book is a must-read for everyone that works with/through trauma! This book walks you through recognizing maladaptive coping mechanisms caused by secondary trauma, and positive coping mechanisms that should be used instead. It gives the reader many tools to cope with trauma.

This book is great! It comes in handy with the line of work I do (Human Services) and the effects that vicarious trauma can have on people in this line of work. It gives details and suggestions on how to deal, and address these traumas, as well as skills to help you cope with these types of traumas. Would definitely recommend this book to anyone who feels the strain of vicarious trauma.

This book is amazing! It is real and she knows how to deliver the message in a real life way. If you ever get the chance to see her present, please do! A great woman and author!

I like the questions that this book has you ask yourself. Why am I doing this work everyday? How is it affecting me? If you are feeling some stress when working with others, this is a good book for you.

This book was really good. The information and strategies in the book apply to many different types of work. I was also fortunate enough to see the author speak and she is amazing. Not only is she very funny and engaging, but she is also approachable and down to earth. I would say there are some parts of the book I found hard to read, like when there are paramedics talking about being at the scene of accidents involving children and having to deal with the family.

I work in a behavior program at a public school and almost all of my students come from a trauma background. This book has helped me to identify the ways in which my job has affected my own emotional well being and given me strategies for combating "caregiver fatigue." I would highly recommend this book for anyone that works in education or any other social service position.

love this book, and I will definitely use it in my work.

Great Read, Smooth. I found this book to be very enlightening, reflective and hard to put down at time. I highly recommend this book for ALL

Good information for anyone who deals with disadvantaged youth as I do

Great ideas and stories. Made me laugh, almost cry and definitely reflect. Great book to read.

I LOVE this book! I had to buy a copy for myself so I could highlight areas and make notes all over the place. This is not just a good read. It contains a ton of great insight that I have read over and over again!

A rare combination of personal stories, New Yorker cartoons, and gentle insight, the authors assist us to explore secondary trauma, and its effect on the individual, organizations, and society. We are guided through an understanding of our own reactions to trauma in order to better understand trauma stewardship, and the pathway to care for ourselves as much as we care for others.

I enjoyed this book as it was very informative for someone just beginning to explore the realm of trauma informed care. I am on a committee at work regarding this topic and it was recommended reading and worth the time. Thank you for helping broaden my understanding of this topic by having this book available through the foundation.

This is a great resource regarding how trauma effects us all. Not only the person directly experiencing the trauma but also those who work with them. The use of cartoons and personal testimony throughout the book makes it highly accessible for all readers.

This book is essential reading for anyone providing services for those affected by trauma. It helped me immensely.

As an educator, I was looking forward to reading this book. It did not disappoint. There were so many practical strategies that help us take care of ourselves so we are ready to take care of our kids.

This is an excellent read for anybody working for a cause. The author clearly explains the impacts of trauma and provides excellent questions for reflection about how to balance the trauma with joy and fulfillment. I wish I had found this guidance earlier in my career!

If you are in the field of caregiving, this is the right book for you. This book will walk you through self-care strategies, will help you become aware of warning signs of burn out and compassion fatigue. It is an excellent resource to learn how to protect your mental, emotional and physical wellbeing when working with secondary trauma. I highly recommend it!

I’m a middle school counselor, and my job is to help and support my students, and what that looks like changes daily. In a helping profession, it’s not our instinct to think about ourselves and how someone else’s traumatic experiences may affect us. We do the best we can, and that often doesn’t feel good enough. This book takes a difficult topic and presents it in a humorous, relevant, and meaningful way. This is one I know I’ll re-read countless times through my career.

This is a very insightful look at the self care that is necessary to successfully work in a helping profession. This helped me realize that many things that I have shrugged off as just part of the job, but they have impacted my mental and physical health. I plan to work in the helping professions for the rest of my career, and this is a resource that I will come back to over the years to help me identify my own signs of burnout and access strategies to help me be prepared to help others.

I found this book to be heartbreaking and difficult to read because everything sounded so familiar, but also very important. Being kind to yourself and learning how to cope with the stress of exposure to trauma or traumatized clients is hard to prioritize but this book drives home the significance of doing so.

This book is great, especially for those who's careers evolve around trauma. I'm a Victims Advocate and I dove head first in this book! I'm learning lots of tips of how to care for myself while advocating for others. I plan on passing this book onto coworkers when I'm done.

Wonderful overview of sources of compassion fatigue, and recommendations for real solutions. Ever wonder why some people thrive in an environment that causes others to be significantly challenged and stressed? This book helps explain why. My only issue is that it is very dense, so don't expect it to be in your "light reading" pile. Still, very much worth getting, reading, and sharing with other professionals who may be exhibiting signs of burnout.

Very helpful book in teaching yourself to manage your health and emotions while taking care of others.

(Reviewed through an educator lens) As educators try to learn more about dealing with the trauma that students experience, they themselves become deeply effected. Resilience becomes an odd form of sustainability as staff try to do more for more students with fewer resources. Laura van Dernoot Lipsky's book addresses the critical need for self-care in the caring professions. She offers an intentional and directive approach to remake one's practices. She does so with humor, intelligence, and thoughtful reflection.

Great book!

This is a great resource for anyone that works in the helping profession. It gives good examples of ways to have self care

This book was a great tool for learning how to care for yourself while caring for others. It was written in a way that was easy to read. I think this book is great for anyone working with people/animals or the environment that requires care.

Great book. Very insightful and will be very useful in the work we do.

This book is an amazing book to bring to light what happens with burnout, the signs and symptoms and how wide spread burnout is in our work environments. I have ordered more of these books to share with coworkers and family members. Cant say enough about this book.

I enjoyed reading this title, the personal stories shared were relevant to the topic of the chapters and the comics were a nice touch to help bring a little levity to a potentially very depressing topic.

Trauma Stewardship describes symptoms many of us feel from exposure of childhood trauma and secondary trauma through working with individuals who have experienced trauma. All is not lost, however! The second half of the book describes ways we can get in touch with ourselves through self reflection and concrete practices in order to not only cope with, but thrive in our roles.

I really appreciated how this book addresses issues that many people working in social services face. The variety of ways that the information is presented is helpful and easy to follow.

After hearing Laura speak on a couple of different occasions, it was interesting to read her ideas in print. I am looking forwarding to trying out some of her "Try this!" ideas in the back of the book with colleagues from my school district to continue to move this work forward for us as a cohort.

I can't tell you how excited I was to get this book. The content is so rich and valuable, I think it will be my new bible! I wish I could get 5 more copies to hand out to friends

This book really is fantastic. Has practical tips that I am sure I will actually find useful once I leave grad school, but I really found the first person anecdotal stories from professionals in the field the most helpful part of this book. Made me feel a little less alone out there when I'm at work.

I enjoyed this book it was very easy to relate to and I am going to reread this over and over to learn ways on how not to become overwhelmed. I feel that it is important to know the feelings you are having and not ignore them in order to give the best care possible. You need to be open to your own health first and take breaks often to not become burned out.

Trauma Stewardship glances at strong and necessary insight into taking care of others while taking care of yourself. Compared to optimism and pessimism it relates the well-known burnout (half-empty) with the following your own advice/practice (half-full). Have you ever wondered what the biopsychosocial approach looked like from both sides? Caring for others and yourself takes all sides and angles from our lives. We need to continue with a holistic, inclusive, trauma-informed, diverse, and client-centered approach to health care and model our own interventions alongside our clientele.

This is a must-have for anyone who provides trauma-informed care. This book can help in recognizing the impact your work may be having on you. The author offers ideas for mitigating the effects of T-I practice. An excellent book to refer to often.

This book provides great insight and opportunities for self reflection as a "trauma steward". I look forward to using it in my future work!

There is an absolute reason this book is part of many MSW and counseling program curriculums! The section on the warning signs of trauma and the guide map of how to handle it are a must for those who have spent any amount of time in the "helping" field.

Could not put this one down!

I work in a prison as a counselor working with men to lower recidivism rates. In working with these men I often hear childhood stories that have significant trauma. This book allowed me to see several areas of my life that have been impacted that were unseen to me prior to reading this book. It has practical tools you can use to assist you so you can effectively take care of yourself and the people you get to work with. The animations were wonderful, this is a must read for the helping community!

As a Residence Life employee who works with students experiencing all sorts of trauma as they enter their college careers, this book was an excellent resource. I can't wait to use it with my students and student staff next year!

What an amazing book! If you work with anyone in a trauma setting or have someone close to you who works in a trauma setting, this book needs to be in your library.

Well written. I have seen the author speak in person before. I would highly recommend hearing her as well as reading her book.

An excellent read and comprehensively informative on compassion fatigue. A valuable tool for social workers, community volunteers, teachers, and anyone involved in occupations that provide assistance to others ought to read this book.