THE LISTENING PROJECT

One of GIST-T’s stated goals, formulated in 2016, is to ‘Engage with humanitarian and protection agencies, dealing with violent conflicts and natural disasters, to better understand whether and how trauma is dealt with among their personnel and the vulnerable communities they serve.’

The Listening Exercise was proposed as a means to open informed dialogue and initiate relationships with organizations that might become users of products created from the Confronting Stress and Trauma Resource Kit. Conducting the Listening Exercise would also deepen GIST-T’s understanding of what individuals and organizations have found to be both effective and challenging in regard to the prevention, monitoring and treatment of stress, burnout and trauma.

The first step in achieving this goal was foreseen as a two-pronged approach: (i) to enquire about staff’s current level of trauma, burnout and stress symptoms through a written questionnaire, and then (ii) through interviews, to listen to staff recounting their experiences in regard to stress and trauma, within their respective agencies.

The Listening Exercise does not claim to offer statistically representative information but aims to get a ‘feel’ for the range of stress and trauma experiences and responses, and the organizations’ perception of the adequacy of their policies and practices.

GIST-T advocates for all organizations to allocate adequate resources to fulfil their ‘duty of care’.