INF 305 Professional Learning and Networking
Trauma Informed Approach to managing archives : Australian Society of Archivists E-Course
Description of Activity
The course was created by Nicola Laurent from the Find & Connect web resource and the University of Melbourne in collaboration with Kirsten Wright from the Find & Connect web resource and University of Melbourne
Content
Archival education for institutions holding out of home care records, police and court records.
Format
This is a self-paced, interactive online course featuring quizzes and videos and with a self-care template.
Audience
This course would be helpful for volunteers, archivists or anyone who works with ‘out of home care records’, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ records, police and inquest records and other records that are traumatic.
Organisers
The Australian Society of Archivists
Presenters
Nicola Laurent, Kirsten Wright, Michaela Hart and Dr. Michelle Noon
Michaela Hart is an archivist for the Victorian Department of Health & Human Services and Dr. Noon is a psychologist.
Delivery
E-Learning Course/toolkit.
Certificate provided on completion of course.
Reflections
Objectives of the Activity
The overall objective of the course was to introduce participants to the meaning of trauma and vicarious trauma and how to recognize the effects of trauma in staff and clients who view the records and how to respond to their needs.
Reason for attending
Public Record Office Victoria (PROV) staff were encouraged to undertake this course, as PROV staff work with records from the Department of Health & Human Services records which contain a large collection of ‘out of home care’ records. Many staff also work with Aboriginal Protectorate records, inquest and State Wards records.
Relationship of activity to your work or study
As I work in the Access Services Division of PROV I routinely work with these records and provide access to clients in the reading room. Furthermore, from time to time I work on projects relating to these records and also provide transcriptions from Aboriginal Protectorate and missions reports for the Koori Index of names which aims to assist First Nations Peoples connect with family and country.
Learning Outcomes
I learned more about the meaning of trauma and vicarious trauma and how it can affect staff who work with traumatic and sometimes graphic records such as inquests. I learnt about the key principles of trauma informed practice which included safety; trust; choice; collaboration and empowerment and the ways in which organisations and staff can foster positive interactions. Working regularly with these types of records can affect you in ways that you’re really not aware of at the time. It not only affects staff but also clients who read material written about them or their family that may not correspond to their reality and how they remember their families. I learnt about self-care and supportive strategies such as staff rotation, providing a quiet place for clients, and the importance of using more descriptive metadata and language to provide more context about the records. As an access services officer at PROV I find that records can be quite confronting at times, particularly records about of ‘out of home care’ children and you do find yourself thinking about these records when not working. This course was especially helpful in the self-care strategies that I learned.
How will I use the learning gained.
I am now better informed in providing a safe environment (physically, emotionally and culturally) for clients viewing traumatic records in the PROV reading rooms and now realise the manner in which the service is delivered can increase trust and empower people to feel more positive. I will now be able to offer a more compassionate service to clients by providing safe, quiet places and refer them to sites such as Find & Connect where they can be connected to support services. Furthermore, I can now identify signs of trauma and vicarious trauma in myself and also assist colleagues in their self-care. I now have an increased awareness in considering the environment in which distressing records are viewed.