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Tips & Training

Resources to support learning on trauma and career development

Reading Time: 5 minutes

According to the Canadian Psychological Association, it is estimated that 76% of Canadians identify as having experienced a traumatic event, and about 8% of them develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Someone who has experienced trauma and still feels its effects may face certain challenges as they pursue career development. According to the Government of Canada, trauma can result from a variety of situations, and can cause a person to “experience intense fear, helplessness, horror or other reactions of distress.”

Career professionals who understand what trauma is and how it can affect a client, and who use a trauma-informed practice to support them, can more effectively help their clients as they pursue their career goals. The following resources can help career professionals understand and support their clients in this way.


Don’t miss the other articles in our CareerWise series on Trauma and Career Development:


Articles
CareerWise website – various articles
How to help your clients navigate the trauma of racism in the workplace (Careering magazine)

Career professionals can learn how to have safe and meaningful conversations to support clients experiencing this form of bullying. Career Counsellor Priscilla Jabouin explains how in this 2022 Careering article.

Preparing Trauma-Informed Career Counselors: Suggestions for Counselor Educators (NCDA)

Career professionals will most likely encounter clients affected by trauma over the course of their careers. This article explains how counsellor training programs can counsellors-in-training to work with this population of clients.

Trauma-Informed Care: A Necessary Skill for Career Professionals (Career Professionals of Canada)

Lori Jazvac and Ksenia Lazoukova explain what trauma is and how it affects people, and share their unique approaches to trauma-informed care to support clients.

Traumatized Populations in the Workplace: Strategies for Working with Clients with Trauma History (NCDA)

This article explores how and why trauma creates a challenge for jobseekers, and offers specific strategies career professionals can use to help trauma survivors achieve their career goals.

We need trauma-informed leadership in the workplace. Here’s how (Fast Company)

What organizations and leaders can do to practice supportive, trauma-informed leadership and build cultures of resilience to navigate present and future challenges.

Podcasts

There are many podcasts exploring trauma and how it intersects with work/career, including the following podcast episodes:

Academic publications

Some of these articles require an institutional log-in or have a fee for download. 

Career Development of Trauma Survivors: Expectations about Counseling and Career Maturity (Journal of Employment Counseling)

 This study found that trauma survivors were more motivated and open to counselling than individuals who did not experience trauma, but also that trauma survivors expected their counsellors to be less empathic. This publication explores the study and what its findings might mean for counsellor training.

Toward Trauma-Informed Career Counseling (The Career Development Quarterly)

In this article published in 2020, the authors explore:

  • Findings related to trauma-informed counselling practices
  • Literature linking trauma and career theories
  • How career counselling can address the effects of adverse childhood experiences using trauma-informed practices
Trauma-Informed Career Counseling: Identifying and Advocating for the Vocational Needs of Human Services Clients and Professionals (Journal of Human Services)

This article explores how trauma can affect career development and employment opportunities across a client’s or human service professional’s lifetime. The article’s authors examine trauma-informed strategies for supporting the career development of someone who has experienced a history of trauma, while also speaking to human service professionals who have a history of trauma themselves.

Trauma Symptoms: Relationship With Career Thoughts, Vocational Identity, and Developmental Work Personality (The Career Development Quarterly)

Based on a study of 131 college students, this article explores trauma’s effect on an individual’s career- and work-related activities and what this might mean for career counsellors. 

Other
A Little Book about Trauma-Informed Workplaces (Crisis & Trauma Resource Institute) [Book]

Every organization, from any sector, can benefit from becoming trauma-informed. Trauma-informed workplaces understand and recognize the presence of trauma, acknowledge the role trauma can play in a person’s life and promote work environments that support the individual and collective well-being of all staff and clients.

Bridging Two Worlds: Supporting Newcomer and Refugee Youth (CERIC) [Book]

Designed to help educators and counsellors deliver career development and guidance to young newcomers and refugees, this book contains sections dedicated to exploring how trauma can affect school-based learning and provides practical resources to create a trauma-sensitive learning environment. You can purchase a print copy of this book or download it for free.

Improving education outcomes for students who have experienced trauma and/or adversity (OECD) [Working paper]

The purpose of this working paper is to help education policy-makers and education leaders and practitioners know how to better support students who have experienced adversity and/or trauma and build their resilience.

Right Within: How to Heal from Racial Trauma in the Workplace [Book]

In workplaces nationwide, women of colour need frank talk and honest advice on how to deal with microaggressions, heal from racialized trauma, and find relief from invisible workplace burdens. Author Minda Harts offers strategies for women of colour to speak up during racialized moments with managers and clients, work through past triggers they may not even know still cause pain and reframe past career disappointments as opportunities to grow into a new path.

Toolkit: Trauma-Informed Workplaces (Campaign for Trauma-informed Policy & Practice)

This toolkit provides educational concepts and practical strategies to support team members (defined in this toolkit as employees, staff, workers, interns, fellows, C-suite leadership, human resources and administrative professionals, volunteers, committee and board members, etc.) in advocating for more trauma-informed workplaces.

Trauma Informed Career Counseling (Greenwood Associates Inc.) [YouTube video]

This video demonstrates how Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) affect brain development and have long-term effects on mental and physical health, which can result in poor career and life fulfillment experiences. You’ll also learn how to become a trauma-informed career counsellor who uses best practices to help clients who may be experiencing trauma.

Trauma-Informed Career Development Practice (Douglas College) [Online course]

This workshop is an evidence-based program that reflects current trauma research. It provides career development professionals with informed skills and strategies to identify challenges, along with tangible tools to work effectively with individuals who have a history of trauma and are engaging in career development.

Douglas College also lists courses on “Advanced Trauma Informed Career Development Practice” and “Trauma Informed Organization.”

Additional reading

Sign up for our free CareerWise Weekly newsletter to get resources, news and analysis to support your career development work delivered to your inbox each Tuesday!

This article was originally published in 2021 and was updated in March 2024 with files from CareerWise staff.

Marisa Baratta is a writer and editor who lives in Ontario with her husband and their children. She loves writing, especially fiction that touches your heart, opens your mind, makes you laugh and inspires positive change. Her shelves are lined with short stories, poems and chapter books she wrote since she was five. She can often be found writing, reading, cooking, walking near trees or spending time with her loved ones.
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Marisa Baratta is a writer and editor who lives in Ontario with her husband and their children. She loves writing, especially fiction that touches your heart, opens your mind, makes you laugh and inspires positive change. Her shelves are lined with short stories, poems and chapter books she wrote since she was five. She can often be found writing, reading, cooking, walking near trees or spending time with her loved ones.
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