Organisational psychology
Case study: trauma-aware staff support for an international human rights organisation
An anonymised example of our organisational work. The organisation is not named.
The situation: demanding work and a duty of care
The client is an international human rights advocacy organisation. Its lawyers work in high-conflict, emotionally demanding settings, including with victims of torture and repression.
Leadership recognised that staff were regularly exposed to traumatic material, with the risks that brings: vicarious trauma, burnout and workplace stress. They wanted an evidence-based way to support their staff, prevent burnout and build resilience for the long term.
Who did the work
Dr Mareike Suesse led the work, with an associate consultant forensic psychologist.
What we did
Assessment
Baseline psychometric measures of secondary traumatic stress and burnout, with scheduled follow-ups. One-to-one semi-structured interviews on burnout, secondary trauma and workplace culture.
Reporting
A combined qualitative and quantitative report, with a needs dashboard showing where teams were resilient and where they were struggling. It covered values alignment, communication, secondary trauma, burnout and leadership style.
Working with leaders
One-to-one advisory sessions with leaders before, during and after the assessment, with recommendations and support to put them into practice.
Specialist support
Clear signposting to specialist individual clinical support where it was needed.
Workshops and reflective practice
Bespoke psychoeducation workshops built around the trauma profiles staff faced, and structured reflective practice for peer support, psychological safety and normalising emotional responses.
The needs dashboard
An illustration of the dashboard’s scale. Each area of the organisation was rated from low need to very high need, so leaders could see at a glance where teams were strong and where they needed support. No client data is shown.
Outcomes
Evidence to act on
Leadership had clear evidence and recommendations on workplace mental health, communication and alignment, and a plan for acting on them.
A lasting change
Reflective practice is still part of the organisation’s approach more than six years later.
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