Vol. 25, No. 1
November 2019

Intake and Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS)

CPS intake is a daily stream of stories about children being harmed. This puts intake staff at risk for secondary traumatic stress. The intake supervisors we spoke with are aware of this risk and alert for signs such as:

Numbness/avoidance. These common STS symptoms can lead workers to avoid asking critical follow-up questions and therefore miss out on information needed for quality screening decisions.

Impaired judgment. The emotions stirred up by secondary trauma can negatively influence screening decisions. One supervisor said when this happens, they ask the worker to find the specific place in policy that supports the decision.

To support staff and help them manage indirect exposure to trauma, many intake supervisors lead quick one-on-one debriefings to help them explore feelings and emotions experienced from the details of the report. For the worst reports, supervisors may follow up with CPS assessments and pass the information on to intake staff to give them some sense of closure.

To learn about NC DSS-sponsored courses on managing STS, click here.