Please check out the very interesting and thoughtful film review of CAREgivers film written by Sylvia Paull for the blog, acesconnection.com This blog primarily addresses the impact of trauma upon children in schools and trauma focused interventions that can help them. Understanding secondary trauma which may occur to teachers and other professional providers, the reviewer writes:
“…You won’t see actual violence or death in this film but you’ll feel it from looking at the faces of the caregivers as they describe traumatic incidents in their work…
The film goes into the neuroscience of the stress reaction, explaining that our brains actually respond to pain others are experiencing by secreting chemicals that activate our central nervous system. It’s only later that we can appraise and try to distance ourselves from a situation, says Dr. Sandra Bloom, associate professor of public health at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
But most caregivers would agree that ’empathy is an occupational hazard because you can’t do good work without it,’ according to Charles R. Figley, professor at the School of Social Work at Tulane University. The stress leaves ‘fingerprints on your heart,’ he says. And physical symptoms for secondary stress range the gamut from anger, depression, rapid heart rates, fatigue, and insomnia to suicide…’
The documentary is not all doom and gloom. After the pain, or maybe preceding it, there’s the passion. It’s called compassion satisfaction and it’s what drives people in the caregiving profession…”
The complete film review is at:
http://www.acesconnection.com/blog/who-helps-our-helpers-portraits-of-professional-caregivers-documents-in-film-their-passion-and-pain
