Vicarious Trauma Counselling
Most of my clients don't walk in and say they're traumatized. They say, "I'm fine, others have it worse."
I'm Nancy LeBlanc, a registered social worker, and I offer vicarious trauma counselling through Bracken Path Therapy in Midtown Toronto and virtually across Ontario and Prince Edward Island. It's direct, practical support for nurses, doctors, police, fire and EMS, correctional officers, child protection workers, teachers, therapists and other helpers who take in other people's worst moments as part of the job.
What Is Vicarious Trauma
Vicarious trauma is the distress that builds up from repeated exposure to other people's trauma, whether you hear it, read it, investigate it or witness it. You weren't the one it happened to, and it can still change how you sleep, react and see the world. Terms like secondary traumatic stress and compassion fatigue overlap with it. I don't get hung up on the label. I care about what it's doing to your days.
Burnout and vicarious trauma can overlap, and I've been through both. Burnout comes mostly from workload and pressure. Vicarious trauma comes from what you've taken in. If work pressure is a big part of what's wearing you down, my page on burnout therapy covers that side.
What It Can Look Like
Thinking about a student's home life. A teacher sits with me and says she can't stop thinking about it, yet she's snapping at her own kids for not picking up their shoes.
Not crying in years. A nurse told me she hasn't cried in years, but she can't sit through a movie with a hospital scene without cringing and getting angry and upset almost right away.
Never missing a deadline. A social worker has a full caseload and hasn't missed a deadline, yet she hasn't had a full night's sleep in six months.
They're all good at their job. That's the problem. They've gotten so good at carrying other people's worst days that they've stopped noticing the weight it's left on them. Seeing yourself in any of this doesn't mean you're in the wrong profession, and it doesn't mean you should wait it out.
Why Helpers Wait So Long
You're the steady one. You tell yourself this comes with the job and you should be able to figure it out on your own. Many people in helping roles don't reach out until it feels too late. Earlier in my career I lived that pattern, and when I finally went looking for help, the therapy I found focused on how I felt and never got to what I could do about it.
How I Work With Vicarious Trauma
I've been in practice for 27 years, and 21 of them were on the front line of high-stress, high-crisis work. I don't need the job explained to me, and I won't soften it.
This work is part of my individual therapy practice. My main approach is Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, and I draw on CBT, DBT and ACT when they fit. It isn't scripted and it isn't homework-heavy. I ask pointed questions, and I'll challenge a word or a thought when it matters. If you tell me you're fine, expect me to ask how you're really doing. I don't remove the discomfort. I help you make it useful, so you can make decisions from a clear place instead of reacting in the moment.
Most of the real work happens between sessions, in what you do with what comes up. I won't tell you whether to stay in your job or leave it. I'll help you think it through and decide for yourself.
What's yours to carry. Sorting out which parts of the work belong to you and which don't.
Responding instead of reacting. Finding the pause between what happens at work and what comes out of your mouth at home.
What We Might Work On
Boundaries that hold. Including saying no to one more thing without a long explanation.
A decision about the work. Some people find their way back to work they loved. Others make a clean decision to leave it, without regret or shame.
Is Bracken Path Therapy the right fit for you?
This works best if you want to be challenged and given tools, not just heard. If you mainly want a place to vent, I'm probably not the right therapist. I'm also not a crisis service. If you need urgent help, please contact your local emergency services or a crisis line.
Getting started
Sessions run 50 or 75 minutes, in person at 120 Eglinton Ave East, 4th Floor, in Midtown Toronto or virtually if you're in Ontario or Prince Edward Island. Most clients meet weekly for the first four to six weeks, then space sessions out. There's no wait list, so you can typically start within a day to a week.
Reach out for a free 15-minute consultation to see if we're a fit.
If we're not, I'll help you find someone who is.
If You Already Know Something Has To Change
If you are tired of thinking about it, talking yourself out of it, and ending up in the same loop, start with a free 15-minute consultation at Bracken Path Therapy and see if we think we are a fit.
You do not have to tackle all of these feelings, worries, and concerns by yourself.