Trauma Informed Care Methods to Support Staff
Pima County Public Library
Innovation Synopsis
Pima County Public Library has developed a model and support structure specifically to help library staff through traumatic stress at work. Our model focuses on creating a culture of care and guiding staff to develop a stronger sense of self-reflection and self-understanding as they learn to set healthy boundaries with patrons. Effectively, we promote healing from within so we can then turn those skills outward in our philosophy of compassionate, trauma informed service to the community.
To meet our goals, we’ve established trust-filled relationships with two providers who are able to meet one-on-one with staff during their workday, on scheduled days. We have also created a procedure for consideration of branch closures after more extreme incidents and sending staff home with administrative pay.
To our knowledge, this may be the first model of its kind in public libraries. Libraries from around the U.S. and the world have reached out to its coordinator for support and direction.
Challenge/Opportunity
This innovation is designed to directly address the problem of trauma, burnout, and compassion fatigue experienced by library staff and experienced primarily through interactions with the public, though also with other staff. Numerous studies have been conducted on the matter of trauma in library work, specifically public library work. Most models focus on how to serve the public in a trauma informed capacity. This is more important than ever; however, no organization will effectively achieve this model without first looking internally at how staff are supported as they go about doing their work and dealing with the situations they deal with day after day. We believe working to support staff first is critical before making steps to implement models of trauma-informed service toward community members. Change must start from within.
Key Elements of Innovation
- We formed an advisory team of Pima County Public Library staff representing various service levels and different lived experiences.
- We built a toolkit and provided professional development book sets for staff about trauma at work, including intersectionality between trauma and the lived experiences of marginalized communities.
- We worked with consultants and providers to offer tailored training and encourage staff to share feedback through surveys and focus groups.
- We modified our internal incident reporting system to include a first-of-its-kind model for staff to report traumatic impact and notify PCPL’s administration and Trauma Informed Care team when the branch needs support.
- We established regular support, including critical incident response, with mental health care providers after frightening and negatively impactful events. This support has been made available from providers they have come to know and trust, during the workday, on work time.
Achieved Outcomes
- In a recent survey of staff, 100% of respondents indicated they found the Trauma Informed Care Team’s toolkit helpful and listed the types of resources that were most helpful.
- 30% of respondents indicated they have attended a group critical incident session that has been set up for staff through the county’s Employee Assistance Program. 85% of attendees found it helpful for processing the incident.
- Around 20% of respondents have utilized one-on-one counseling with one of our providers during their workday and almost 90% of attendees found these sessions helpful for their well-being.
- Staff repeatedly report, through email, conversation, in surveys, and through their colleagues, how thankful they are for this model and how much it is helping them.
- Filled one-on-one sessions with providers demonstrate great need for these sessions. Sessions are usually completely booked in advance and any vacant slots are typically filled last minute by drop-ins.
Supporting Materials:
