Training Students for a Shared Traumatic Reality

A shared reality challenges students' ability to deal with threat and crisis. It requires several resources in terms of money and time, as students need a great deal of support, a containing environment, and a relevant knowledge base to establish effective helping relationships. We found a large gap between the design and implementation of the course, introducing modifications to provide the students with a professional shield so that they could work with the teenagers in an appropriate and ethical manner. The recent increase in traumatic events throughout the world, whether acts of terror or natural disasters, makes it necessary to train social work students for conditions of shared reality and to include such courses in their core curriculums, not merely to design them ad hoc as a response to acute situations. We recommend that suitable training programs continue to be developed and that sufficient time be allocated to theory and practice. Students need a more secure base of wider knowledge to be able to operate effectively in an intense experience. Furthermore, it is important to remember that the lecturers, too, are part of the same shared reality, a fact that is likely to affect their ability to teach and to analyze the experience. As the staff may be perceived as vulnerable, students might be reluctant to reveal to them their political views or unique needs as helpers (Nuttman-Shwartz & Shay, 2006). Thus in situations of shared reality, means should be found to support the staff as well.