The Vicarious Trauma—Organizational Readiness Guide (VT–ORG) was created to help organizations assess their capacity to address employees' work-related exposure to trauma and prioritize organizational needs. It is organized around organizational strategies that reduce, or have the potential to reduce, the impact of vicarious trauma.

There are 4 variations on the VT-ORG, intended to assess four fields: EMS, Victim Services, Law Enforcement, and Fire Services. 

You'll be using the one for victim services, as that most closely mirrors animal sheltering services. However, if your organization is part of or includes law enforcement, you may wish to take that variation as well (both are provided below).

The VTT uses the term "vicarious trauma" broadly to include other related terms such as secondary traumatic stress (STS), compassion fatigue (CF), or critical incident stress (CIS).

Findings can be used to develop strategies to address vicarious trauma through policies, procedures, practices, and programs. This will support your staff so that they can better meet your mission. 

The Office for Victims of Crime, part of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs. 

How an organization recognizes and addresses the needs of staff in these five evidence-informed areas of organizational health:

• Leadership and Mission
• Management and Supervision
• Employee Empowerment and Work Environment
• Training and Professional Development
• Staff Health and Wellness

At a minimum, leadership. Ideally a number people on staff will take the assessment and discuss the results. Consider people who:

• are knowledgeable about and responsible for the development of organizational policies, procedures, and programs
• have varying levels of experience and can lend different perspectives
• reflect demographic diversity
• have been employed a minimum of 1 year (the VT–ORG assessment tool is based on experiences in the organization in the prior 6 months)

The VT–ORG assessment can be conducted in a variety of ways based on your organization’s size, structure, and needs. Some options include:
 

• Distribute the VT–ORG across the organization to management and staff at all levels.
• Share the VT-ORG with your Program Committee and discuss the results.
• The VT–ORG can be distributed to one division/unit at a time or organization-wide.
• Use the VT–ORG questions and/or results as a conversation starter at a staff meeting or other forum.

The VT–ORG can be distributed in hard copy or by using survey software. The survey can be set up to automatically ensure anonymous responses. If you are distributing the VT–ORG in hard copy, you may wish to consider ways to ensure anonymity, including designating a secure place where staff can return their surveys confidentially.

There are sample emails you can customize and use to announce, share, and close the survey.

The VT-ORG does offer an Excel spreadsheet (which can be found here) that can help you collect and tabulate the data. This is optional, but very helpful.

You can learn more about planning and data collection here.

Once you have compiled the results, you can share this with the staff. There is a sample report that will guide you in sharing the data in a meaningful way.

Visit this page for in-depth information on how to plan, collect, share, and implement changes based on the assessment.