Have you ever driven home after work replaying someone else's worst day, like it happened to you? That's often a sign of vicarious trauma — and it happens to the most dedicated helpers, not the careless ones.

In this episode of Creative Trauma Recovery, trauma therapist Shelley Mountain-Collette breaks down vicarious trauma — the gradual shift that happens in helpers, trauma workers, and first responders from years of holding other people's pain.

Shelley shares her own story of the fixer and protector part that's been running since she was three years old, and how it shows up now in her relationship with her mom's ongoing illness. She walks through the four nervous system stress responses — fight, flight, freeze, and fawn — and how each one shows up as either being wired, checked out, or stuck in people-pleasing mode. You'll learn the difference between vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress, what a dysregulated nervous system actually means, and how to start noticing which state has been running your system lately.

In this episode:

• What vicarious trauma actually is, and why it happens to the most dedicated helpers
• The difference between vicarious trauma and secondary traumatic stress
• Fight, flight, freeze, and fawn — the four nervous system responses, explained
• What it means to be "dysregulated," and how to recognize it in yourself
• A "Parts in the Room" segment naming the carrier part and the numb part
• A paced breathing practice for nervous system regulation
• This week's activity: a daily check-in to notice your own patterns
• A faith connection through Isaiah 11:2, Matthew 11:28, and Galatians 6:2

Who this episode is for: trauma workers, first responders, therapists, nurses, and Christian helping professionals who feel like they're either always on guard or completely checked out — and want language for why.

Keywords: vicarious trauma, dysregulated nervous system, hypervigilance, fight flight freeze fawn, nervous system regulation, trauma workers, Christian counseling, trauma therapist

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