In contemporary Canadian society, work-related stress is pervasive and can have detrimental effects on an individual’s mental health. For employees in human services who often work with vulnerable or sick populations, the stress can be experienced physically, mentally and emotionally, leading to issues such as burnout and secondary (or vicarious) trauma. Sectors that are at particularly high risk for occupational traumatic stress include: emergency services (i.e., police, fire and paramedics), health professionals, child welfare organizations, and homelessness support services. In terms of advocacy and awareness of occupational risk for the development of traumatic stress, certain occupations receive substantial attention, while others are often overlooked. Until recently, there has been very little work that looks at the extent to which traumatic stress affects staff who work with individuals who experience homelessness.
Over the past five years, our research team has conducted several studies to explore the rates of primary traumatic stress (i.e., Posttraumatic Stress Disorder symptoms) and compassion fatigue (i.e., burnout and/or secondary trauma) experienced by homeless sector frontline workers (HSFW). The results were clear; HSFW experienced levels of traumatic stress that exceeded those in professions most often associated with occupational risk for traumatic stress such as firefighters, police, and paramedics. These findings encouraged our team to keep building on this research to bring awareness to the psychosocial needs of this valuable group of social service employees. This research can inform prevention of work-related disability and emphasize the need for trauma-informed practices within organizations that serve individuals experiencing homelessness.