Table 6 Overview of Theme 5 with representative quotes

Reckoning with burnouts and vicarious trauma

Services face emotional challenges when working with sexual assault survivors. Participants stress the dual notion of self-care, aiming to separate personal and professional lives to protect against the emotional impact of survivors’ trauma and recurring frustrations in their work.

‘My overall experience is one of quite overwhelming at the number of vulnerable women and men out there that find themselves in that situation of being subject to a sexual assault. I do get overwhelmed by it’ (Crisis Worker)

‘I’ve recently had two bereavements so I must keep myself well supported because dealing with trauma it has an impact on myself so that is something I have to be aware of that I am not taking on vicarious trauma. So that I need to be well supported.’ (Sexual Trauma Counsellor)

‘It’s quite difficult, sometimes there are cases that you find hard to stop thinking about when you go home, ones that you know resonate with you longer than others. Just frustration at not always being able to offer the services we’d like to.’ (Sexual Offences Examiner)