Recognizing and Managing Secondary Traumatic Stress

This course focuses on the well-being of staff by building knowledge about the impact of Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS). Participants will learn how to assess STS symptoms in themselves and others, discuss factors that help to protect professionals from the negative effects of STS, discover strategies to use these protective factors to manage STS, assess their personal and professional self-care, and develop STS management plans.

This training is approved for three hours of continuing education for core social work, related licensed professional counselors, marriage and family therapists, DECAL/Bright from the Start, family violence intervention specialists (FVIP), POST, Babies Can’t Wait Project SCEIs in Area 1 Children and Famlies-Birth to 8, and nursing.

Instructor:

Debra Ross, MSW serves as an Instructional Services Coordinator with the Georgia State University School of Social Work Child Welfare Training Collaborative. In this role, Debra facilitates training classes and workshops on various topics including trauma and the impact of trauma on children, families, and organizations; resilience; cultural competence; secondary traumatic stress; and self-care. Debra has worked in social services for over 28 years and has a variety of child welfare experiences in the public and private sectors. During her early professional career, Debra worked at the Division of Family and Children Services in two states where she supported efforts to reform child welfare practices, and crisis intervention and provided specialized case management services. She later served as a program manager on four state contracts in which she was responsible for marketing, program evaluation, quality assurance, and web-based learning and training for families and their children. She developed, presented, and managed numerous workshops to help support the continuing training need of foster/adoptive parents across the state. Because of her creative approach and innovative strategies in the field of Social Work along with years of child welfare experience, Debra has been invited to present at both the Federal and State level. Debra earned a degree in Sociology from Fisk University and a master’s degree in Social Work from Fordham University.

Wednesday, March 19, 2025, 9:00 AM – 12:30 PM Virtual