Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS)
Webinar
The Cost of Caring: Strategies to Combat Burnout and Secondary Trauma among Professionals Working with Children
ISPCAN Resources
Dr. Zlatina Kostova provides an overview of STS and burnout, explores their physiological and psychological impacts, and shares concrete tools for recognizing, managing, and mitigating these effects. The session includes interactive discussions, and experiential self-care practices that participants can apply in both their personal and professional contexts:
During a time marked by global upheaval—including armed conflicts, climate-related disasters, and the aftermath of a worldwide pandemic—the topic of stress and burnout among professionals working with children has become more urgent than ever. This period of profound and ongoing change has intensified an already growing mental health and burnout crisis among child-serving providers across healthcare, mental health, education, child welfare, and related systems. These professionals have long worked under demanding conditions, often with irregular hours and high emotional stakes in environments that are challenging and chronically stressful. The goal of this webinar is to deepen participants’ understanding of Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) and Burnout, while offering practical, evidence-informed strategies to support the well-being of professionals working with children across diverse settings.
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Listen to the Webinar Recording
Webinar Date:
June 25, 2025
Region:
Global
Topics:
Burnout
Compassion Fatigue
Self Care
Support for Child Serving Professionals
External Resources
Emotional Intelligence Quiz
Umass Center for Mindfulness
Tara Brach guided meditations
Inside Meditation Society
UCLA Mindful
More resources: National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN)
Reflective supervision
NCTSN Resources
NCTSN Webinar: Secondary Traumatic Stress Series:
NCTSN Webinars: Cultural Implications of Secondary Traumatic Stress:
NCTSN Webinars: Trauma-Informed Care: Understanding and Addressing the Needs of Unaccompanied Children. NCTSN 4-Part Webinar series, Part 4 on STS:
Emotional Challenges and Self-Care for Those Working with Young Traumatized Children:
UMASS Lifeline for Kids
UMASS Lifeline for Families
Learning Objectives:
The goal of this webinar is to deepen participants’ understanding of Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS) and Burnout, while offering practical, evidence-informed strategies to support their well-being
Define the spectrum of burnout, secondary traumatic stress and related terms
Recognize symptoms of secondary traumatic stress and burnout and how the workplace setting may exacerbate or improve these symptoms
Identify strategies at an individual and organizational level to prevent burnout and promote resiliency
Presented By:
Zlatina Kostova, PhD
Training Director Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences UMass Chan Medical School, USA
Zlatina Kostova, PhD is the Director of Training at Lifeline for Kids at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. With a strikingly multidisciplinary and multicultural education obtained in Italy, Switzerland and the US, she has a strong background in clinical psychology and her main interests lie in the area of childhood trauma and mindfulness-based interventions. Dr. Kostova is an international trainer in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), a Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) qualified teacher and she is also a certified trainer for teaching trauma-informed curricula developed by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). Dr. Kostova is actively collaborating and presenting at an international level and she is a go-to expert in implementing evidence-based treatments for children and youth in several countries, including war torn zones as Ukraine.