Addressing Secondary Trauma in Human Rights Work

Date
-
Event Sponsor
WSD Handa Center for Human Rights & Int'l Justice
Location
Encina Hall West, Conference Room 219 (2nd Floor)

Human rights practitioners are often exposed to the descriptions and consequences of violence and suffering, whether working abroad, at home or in the classroom. While the mental health consequences of experiencing this type of trauma is well-documented, less attention is paid to the impact of second-hand exposure. Individuals working in the human rights field are often at risk for burnout and other negative health impacts. This panel will discuss different experiences of secondary trauma from people working in the human rights field in order to help students identify and become aware of signs of secondary trauma as well as open space for prioritizing self-care while doing human rights work

Betty Ann Hagenau is the founder of the Bay Area Anti-Trafficking Coalition. Betty Ann has been leading, teaching, and speaking about community-based strategies to fight human trafficking since 2002. She worked for International Justice Mission from 2004-2007 and in 2006 climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro to raise $45K to fight child trafficking. Betty Ann is “the voice” of Stanford basketball—she is in her 17th season with the women’s team, and this year she became the first female PA announcer for college men’s basketball in the country. Betty Ann holds a B.A. from the University of Oregon and her M.A. in International Policy Studies from Stanford, specializing in International Conflict Resolution. Betty Ann has led educational tours around the world to all seven continents and has visited over 85 countries.

Alison Colwell is the director of the Office of Investment Responsibility Stakeholder Relations at Stanford University and a research fellow at the WSD HANDA Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Stanford. Prior to Stanford, Colwell worked at the Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) where she oversaw the design and execution of projects on human rights, community engagement and development, responsible labor, strategy integration, and gender across industries, primarily with energy and extractives companies. She has conducted fieldwork with communities and stakeholders in Asia, Latin America, the Middle East, and North America. Colwell has also worked with bilateral and multilateral international development agencies, including the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank, the International Development Research Centre, and NGOs affiliated with the Organization of American States.

Alina Utrata Alina Utrata is a senior majoring in History and the Law and minoring in Human Rights. She is a recipient of the 2017 Marshall Scholarship for an MA in Conflict Transformation and Social Justice at Queens University Belfast. Her studies focus on how transitional justice mechanisms affect societies in the aftermath of conflict. Alina has worked at the Asian International Justice Initiative in Phnom Penh, the Balkan Institute for Conflict Resolution, Responsibility and Reconciliation in Sarajevo, the State Department’s International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Bureau in Washington D.C., and the WSD Handa Center for Human Rights and International Justice at Stanford.

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