This document discusses the issue of trauma exposure among Overdose Fatality Review team members, how to spot it, and how to effectively address and reduce the effects of trauma exposure, and ultimately support the well-being of team members.
This document first identifies what self-care is; the role of self-care in an Overdose Fatality Review (OFR) team meeting; and what trauma exposure looks like in an OFR meeting. It notes that OFR team members may, through their professional encounters, experience psychological effects from repeated exposure to stress and trauma, resulting in compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, vicarious trauma, and burnout; and trauma exposure may present itself through unprofessional engagement, unfriendly team climate, or inappropriate language. The document lays out self-care strategies for the OFR process, which include sections on recruiting, planning, facilitating community, building a recommendation plan, and data collection and communication through the use of annual reports.