Shared Resilience in a Traumatic Reality: A New Concept for Trauma Workers Exposed Personally and Professionally to Collective Disaster

This article proposes a new concept, shared resilience in a traumatic reality (SRTR), which refers to trauma workers in shared reality situations. Based on the literature that emphasizes the positive effects of exposure to traumatic events for workers in this field, this article expands the perception of shared traumatic situations and examines the ability of trauma workers to cope, to show resilience, and to grow as a result of the mutual relationship with their clients. The literature review presents a variety of terms referring to the positive effects of working with trauma survivors on therapists as a basis for the new concept proposed here. These terms highlight the importance of empathic mutual aid relationships, which are a basic component for promoting resilience in a shared traumatic reality. The relative nature of shared resilience is discussed, bearing in mind that resilience can be manifested as emotions, behaviors, and conceptions. Various findings relating to shared resilience in traumatic situations are reviewed, and recommendations for research, practice, and policy are offered. Keywords compassion satisfaction, professional growth, secondary resilience, shared traumatic reality, shared reality, shared resilience, shared trauma, shared traumatic stress, vicarious posttraumatic growth, vicarious resilience In recent years, a growing body of research has shed light on the positive consequences of trauma work. Several models have explained posttraumatic growth (PTG) following direct trauma exposure (e.g., Tedeschi, Park, & Calhoun, 1998) and have been applied to situations where therapists have experi-enced positive changes as a result of vicarious exposure to trauma experienced by their clients (e.g., Arnold, Calhoun