Research has documented the negative effects of secondary exposure to trauma across a spectrum of professional and nonprofessional caregivers, including spouses of combat veterans, disaster first responders, mental health professionals, and other medical and social service personnel. Investigators have documented organizational factors that may contribute to these negative effects and have called for organizations to address the self-care needs of their staff. However, implementation of an organizational self-care model has not been described previously in the literature. This article describes a qualitative practice experience related to the implementation of a self-care model within a large social services organization. The goal is to stimulate further research in refining theory and interventions from a scientist-practitioner perspective.
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