Application of Zen Practices and Principles for Professionals/Advocates Who Work for Survivors of Trauma and Violence

Abstract

As a matter of survival, people can permanently adapt to ways of living that include radical separation of mind, body, and spirit. This happens with the victims of violence, and professionals and advocates can experience its effects by proxy. Zen practices and principles offer ways of thinking and exercises to move beyond this survival mode. Professionals and advocates who work with survivors of trauma and violence can become physically and mentally exhausted as a result of overworking and chronically carrying a heavy emotional burden. They can experience difficulty in being able to "turn off," and they can develop an unhealthy relationship with the concept of self-care. Although teaching self-care to others is an important part of healing for clients, practitioners and advocates have a tendency to stretch themselves too thin, only practicing self-care under extreme circumstances. It is possible to reach a point, in the midst of experience trauma or after distancing oneself a bit, when finding a different way to be in the world feels plausible or at least worth trying for. From the perspective of a Zen practitioner, this is good and fertile ground. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)