What, you may ask, is ISCRR, it is the ‘Institute for Safety, Compensation and Recovery Research’. Sounds good, intially a joint venture of the WorkSafe authority, the University of Melbourne and Monash University. For years I had been advocating for a University based organization to do research in this area. Then ISCRR emerged, incidentally you think they could have come up with a catchier tile, eg RRISC but no, even now I have to look it up to see what the initials stand for. The University of Melbourne dumped it last year. I have been uniformly disappointed at the quality of the research and the research topics chosen. The ISCRR newsletter highlights their achievements. here is a sample
Cumulative exposure to trauma at work
Due to the COVID-19 restrictions, the incidence and severity of domestic violence has increased. This has resulted in overwhelming workloads and potential burn-out for frontline counsellors. Repeated exposure to traumatic events in the course of one’s work is known as Work-Related Cumulative Trauma. It’s a risk factor for poor mental health, and domestic violence counsellors are just one of the many affected professions. ISCRR was approached by WorkSafe to conduct two evidence reviews for State Government Departments examining:
The prevalence and impact of vicarious trauma in the workplace
Strategies to address the impact of repeated exposure to work-related trauma, both direct and indirect.
ISCRR identified the workplace-based strategies and interventions that influence the psychosocial work environment, using either a proactive, ameliorative or reactive approach to reducing the risk of exposure to the stressors that lead to cumulative trauma.
That’s it folks, somehow domestic violence became linked in. The researchers tell us that they identified workplace strategies and interventions but don’t tell us what they are or how to access them, why bother? Another waste of paper.
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