Wellbeing Futures: Innovation, Policy and Research

Vol. 1 (2025)
Articles

Tenacity During Turmoil: Exploring Readiness and Capacity to Withstand Reactive Trauma

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  • Julie Richards,
  • Patricia Weldon
Julie Richards
Department of Social Work, State University of New York at Plattsburgh, USA
Patricia Weldon
Department of Social Work, State University of New York at Plattsburgh, USA

Published 2025-11-13

Keywords

  • Tenacity,
  • Resilience,
  • Workforce,
  • Humanitarian,
  • Crisis,
  • Retention
    • ...More
    Less
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Tenacity During Turmoil: Exploring Readiness and Capacity to Withstand Reactive Trauma. (2025). Wellbeing Futures: Innovation, Policy and Research, 1, 43-52. https://doi.org/10.65638/2978-882X.2025.01.04

Abstract

Humanitarian practitioners, such as crisis clinicians, emergency medical personnel, disaster response and aid workers, and social workers, face extraordinary stressors in their work, including exposure to trauma, long hours, limited resources, and unsafe conditions. The humanitarian workforce is at a critical juncture with high attrition and practitioners experiencing considerable mental distress from trauma exposure. Given this context, we discuss the prevalence and outcomes of mental health challenges for humanitarian practitioners in the field as well as protective factors. We then introduce our Tenacity During Turmoil (TDT) conceptual model regarding trauma in the workforce. Through this model, we hypothesize that tenacity is the essential determinant of occupational and mental wellbeing for humanitarian practitioners. We conclude with recommendations for addressing the imperative for organizations to examine their role in fostering the development and enhancement of tenacity among their employees.

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