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Holding the Work · Queensland workplace training
Vicarious trauma training for Queensland organisations, with practical responses to moral distress, cumulative exposure and the pressures of frontline work.
With Meg Bonetti, Accredited Social Worker: build shared understanding, strengthen staff support and turn what your team is carrying into actions for managers, services and systems.
For government, not-for-profit and private sector teams. Online or in person across Queensland, subject to availability and agreed travel.
“Megan's training is the most relevant I've had in a while and one that I've been able to retain and implement. 10/10!”
BHC tenancy operations
When the work stays with people
Staff may hear traumatic disclosures, respond to crisis, witness distress or deliver decisions they know will hurt. Sometimes the hardest part is knowing what someone needs and being unable to access it.
Over time, that load can affect sleep, concentration, trust, boundaries, relationships and the capacity to stay present at work. A useful response connects individual skills with the conditions people work in.
This training is relevant to housing and homelessness, health and community services, disability, family support, education and other teams exposed to distressing material or difficult ethical decisions. Managers, people and culture teams, WHS leads and service leaders can work alongside frontline staff.
Understand what is happening
Understand overwhelming experiences and how indirect exposure to other people's trauma can bring distressing images, heightened alertness or avoidance. Distinguish these responses from everyday stress and burnout.
Explore how repeated exposure to other people's trauma can gradually change a worker's sense of safety, trust and how they see the world. Recognise early changes in yourself and colleagues.
Name the strain of knowing what feels ethically right while rules, resources, service gaps or competing duties constrain what you can do. Explore agency, boundaries, escalation and shared responsibility.
Understand the feelings and unresolved concerns that can remain after a morally distressing situation has passed, and accumulate across repeated hard decisions. Make space to acknowledge them and consider what needs to change.
The aim is practical understanding and earlier support. The workshop does not diagnose participants, and people do not need to share personal trauma.
From understanding to practice
Depending on the agreed scope, resources can include a participant workbook, recap or desk prompts, scenario activities and an action plan.
Staff · Teams · Leaders · Systems
Ask about facilitated follow-up and organisational support to translate the workshop into practical changes. Scope is agreed around your service, workforce and existing WHS processes.
Explore workload and exposure patterns, protected breaks, recovery after difficult incidents and support for new starters. Identify where responsibility and capacity are out of balance.
Develop practical “who does what next” pathways, referral options and support for staff delivering difficult news. Make it easier to recognise when a matter needs a manager or another service.
Plan regular reflective supervision, manager check-ins and safe team reflection. Connect staff with appropriate professional support, including existing EAP and referral pathways.
Bring recurring barriers into a shared service-gap log, identify escalation and advocacy actions, and close the loop with staff. Agree who will act, when progress will be reviewed and how staff will hear back.
Traumatic exposure, high demands, low control and inadequate support need attention within an organisation's wider risk management process. Training can help staff and leaders recognise issues and plan responses; it sits alongside consultation, work design, risk controls and review.
A workshop alone does not establish WHS compliance or replace an organisation's risk assessment. See WorkSafe Queensland's psychosocial hazards Code of Practice.
Designed around your service
Enquire about in-person delivery in Brisbane, regional and remote Queensland, Far North Queensland and the Torres Strait, or online sessions for teams across multiple locations.
A facilitated professional development day or a series of sessions, with examples, reflection and practical activities tailored to staff roles and exposure.
Explore what staff need from supervision, workload decisions, incident responses and service systems, with practical priorities for leadership action.
Ask about an agreed summary of non-identifying themes, recommendations, facilitated action planning or follow-up reflection. Reporting and participant privacy arrangements are agreed before delivery.
Your written proposal can set out learning objectives, audience, duration, group size, delivery format, preparation, resources, evaluation, fees and travel. Let Meg know about accessibility needs, procurement requirements and your preferred dates.
From the training room
“It was a valuable workshop and Megan was great”
Community services worker
These comments describe participants' experiences. Learning and organisational actions can be reviewed through feedback and agreed follow-up; no specific clinical, retention or injury-reduction outcome is promised.
Your facilitator
Meg is an Accredited Social Worker with more than twenty years of experience across trauma, addictions, homelessness, women's health, community development and cross-cultural work, including direct practice and senior leadership.
Based on Waibene (Thursday Island), she brings an understanding of frontline responsibility, rural and remote practice, and the wider systems that shape what services can offer. Her facilitation combines research, discussion, practical activities and space for staff expertise.
Read Meg's background · Explore professional supervision · Other organisational training
Yes. Enquiries are welcome from government services, not-for-profit providers and private organisations. The content is scoped around your staff roles, service context and priorities.
Yes. Ask for manager and leadership content, facilitated action planning or follow-up organisational support alongside staff learning.
Duration and fees depend on the agreed learning objectives, group size, preparation, delivery, travel and follow-up. Request a tailored written proposal.
No. Sharing is optional. Activities use respectful, non-identifying examples, with breaks and choices about participation.
Yes. Email Meg or use the enquiry planner below to request a scoping call. Include a contact number and suitable times. A call time is confirmed directly with Meg.
Start a conversation
Tell Meg about your organisation and what you want the training to help with. A short outline is enough to start. Use this planner to prepare an email, then send it from your email app. You can also email meg@mebpractice.com.au directly.