Vicarious Trauma through Research
Episode Description
In this episode of Talking about Methods, Professor Linda Mulcahy talks to Maureen Freed (University of Oxford) about vicarious trauma through research. Maureen Freed offers vicarious trauma training to researchers within the Oxford University Social Sciences Division. She emphasises that emotional work is at the core of research and talks about strategies to process exposure to trauma. Importantly, she invites us to think preventatively.
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Readings recommended by Maureen Freed
Maček, I. (2014) Engaging Violence, London: Routledge. (See especially the Introduction, by Ivana Mačed.)
Fleck, J. and Francis, R. (2021) Vicarious Trauma in the Legal Profession: a practical guide to trauma, burnout and collective care, London: Legal Action Group.
Freed, M. (2024) ‘The Emotional Work is Part of the Work’: Strategies to Maintain Researcher Emotional and Psychological Safety During Challenging Fieldwork, in Hagen, J. J., Ritholtz, S., & Delatolla, A. (Eds.) Queer Conflict Research. Bristol, UK: Bristol University Press.
Procter, C., Spector, B. and Freed, M. (2024) “Field of Screams Revisited: Contending with Trauma in Ethnographic Fieldwork”, in Teaching Anthropology, Vol 13, No.2, pp.107-122.
About the Speaker
Maureen Freed
Maureen Freed is a counsellor and psychotherapist trained at Oxford and at the Tavistock Clinic. She has a particular interest in trauma—how individuals are affected by it, and how they can overcome it. Until 2021 she was Deputy Head of the Oxford University Counselling Service, where she worked for 20 years. She currently works as Scholar Mental Health and Wellbeing Adviser for the Rhodes Trust; teaches on the Psychodynamic Studies Masters Programme at Oxford University; and is a psychotherapist in private practice. Since 2016, she has offered Vicarious Trauma training to researchers within the Oxford University Social Sciences Division and beyond.