COVID-19, Victim Services, and Well-Being

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By Benjamin S. Roebuck and colleagues^{Footnote 17}

The pandemic has made my job more difficult. When the courts closed, our case numbers doubled because cases were not being resolved. When the courts re-opened, me and my co-workers were drowning in our work… As we are generally the only people who are accessible to victims, we bear the brunt of decisions made by people in positions far above us… I now brace myself for every phone call because it will involve listening to lengthy complaints about the justice system. It has become more challenging to stay mentally well during the pandemic, as some of my strategies for self-care were thwarted. (Victim service provider)

Introduction

At both the individual and collective levels of society, extensive stay-at-home orders have exacerbated stress levels (Di Blasi et al. 2020), increased depression and anxiety (Fountoulakis et al. 2021), and have led to increases in financial instability (Wang et al. 2021). The lockdowns mandated during the pandemic have also magnified the challenges that victim service providers (VSPs) encounter when supporting survivors of crime (Allen and Jaffray 2020). The purpose of this article is to reflect on data collected from a national study on vicarious resilience (how repeated exposure to the resilience of survivors can help service providers build their personal resiliency) to better understand the experiences of VSPs and their well-being during the pandemic.

Impact on victims and survivors

Stay-at-home orders have intensified factors that contribute to intimate partner violence (IPV) and victimization, such as increases in financial hardship and tension within the home, as well as isolation from support networks (Allen and Jaffray 2020), especially for those living in marginalized or rural communities (Moffitt et al. 2020; Petrowski et al. 2021; Women’s Shelters Canada 2020). These orders have also placed strain on families with children in the home (Gadermann et al. 2021). Gadermann et al. (2021) found that parents were concerned about their own safety and their children’s safety due to emotional or physical abuse, coercive control, and increased alcohol use by perpetrators of IPV (Brabete et al. 2021). Social distancing has also prevented social gatherings causing further isolation for survivors (Slakoff et al. 2020).

Impact on victim services and victim service providers (VSPs)

Across the country, victim service organizations have had their caseloads change in varying ways (Allen and Jaffray 2020). Adaptations to service delivery models have had cascading effects on workplace demands and well-being among VSPs. For instance, the pandemic created an increased demand for victim services, and while pandemic-related relief funds from agencies like the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC 2021), the Department of Women and Gender Equality,^{Footnote 18} or the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC 2020) have been welcomed by service organizations, permanent funding has generally not increased sufficiently to meet the ongoing needs of victim services (Moffitt et al. 2020; Trudell and Witmore 2020; Women’s Shelters Canada 2020).

The pandemic has created many staffing challenges for VSPs. Women’s Shelters Canada (2020) found that the majority (78%) of women’s shelters surveyed had struggled to maintain adequate staffing, often due to workers’ childcare responsibilities during lockdowns or need to self-isolate. The same study found that VSPs who had to work on-site experienced an increased workload and were often required to perform additional tasks such as following enhanced cleaning protocols. This same study also found that Shelter workers reported greater feelings of isolation and decreased levels of support due to remote work during the pandemic (Women’s Shelters Canada 2020). Similarly, Wood et al. (2020) found that since the start of the pandemic, many IPV and sexual assault VSPs in the United States experienced more professional and personal stressors, a decrease in perceived client safety, and an overall lack of resources to help clients and themselves. This same study reported that increases in video conferencing for work purposes contributed to workforce strain.

While the majority of the literature points to burnout, workplace strain, and other challenges facing service providers during the pandemic, two studies from the United States have found that the pandemic has led VSPs and their organizations to become more innovative and resilient, and to find strength and support through teamwork (Garcia et al. 2021; Posick et al. 2020). Garcia et al. (2021) found that IPV advocates felt that along with its many challenges, the pandemic also increased levels of resilience within themselves, co-workers, agencies, and communities, as well as deeper connections with some clients. Advocates noted that the pandemic contributed to increased innovation by agencies because new solutions were necessary to address client needs. Some participants discussed how agencies supported workers’ needs by providing additional sick time, accommodating childcare needs, and allowing for scheduling changes to accommodate self-care (Garcia et al. 2021). To explore the impact of the pandemic on VSPs in Canada, a new study was undertaken, and this paper offers preliminary results.

Methods

Vicarious Resilience and Services for Victims and Survivors of Crime is a national study funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and approved by the research ethics board at Algonquin College. The study includes an online survey, focus groups, and in-depth interviews exploring themes related to the well-being of VSPs. This paper draws on early findings from the online survey, extracted from responses provided between October 4, 2021 and January 20, 2022. The online survey was distributed across Canada to VSPs and volunteers above the age of 18 using listservs, social media, research partner networks, and a victim services database provided by the Department of Justice Canada. Survey respondents (n = 564) were asked to respond to three COVID-19 specific questions:

1. How have your workload, number of clients, level of stress, work-life balance, and overall mental health been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic? Have they decreased, increased, or stayed the same?
2. Have you spent more time working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic as a service provider?
3. Is there anything else you would like to share with us? For example, how have you been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, thoughts about the survey content, or other things we might have missed?

Table 1, included at the end of this article, presents an overview of the sociodemographic and organizational characteristics of study participants. Qualitative responses to open-ended questions in the survey were uploaded to ATLAS.ti and coded collaboratively by a team of five coders to allow for group discussions to strengthen reliability and improve the overall analysis (Miles et al. 2020).

Results

Analysis focused on two broad themes related to COVID-19: changes to service delivery, and how working from home has affected work-life balance and mental health. Figure 1 below highlights participants’ perceptions of how the pandemic has affected their workload, number of clients, level of stress, work-life balance, and overall quality of mental health.

Changes to service delivery

In the online survey, 57% of respondents indicated that their workload had increased (n = 288), and 45% said that their number of clients had increased (n = 228). Adapting to COVID-19 required a rapid shift towards online and remote service-delivery models, with some providers temporarily required to meet with clients outdoors. Participants expressed numerous challenges associated with working under these conditions. There were concerns about the quality of services available to survivors, such as reduced capacity at women’s shelters or temporary relocation of clients because of COVID-19 distancing protocols, multiple court cancellations, delays in referral times, and reduced referrals to victim services by the police. Participants reported their agencies being short-staffed on busy days due to colleagues needing to self-isolate, or having to close their volunteer programs, which increased the burden on staff. One police-based VSP explained that their community-based victim advocates were no longer permitted to enter the building, effectively reducing their staff from 23 to 3 people.

Extended workloads and poor compensation

Participants also explained that their work had become more complex. One participant wrote: “COVID added a layer of complexity to every call.” To make effective referrals, VSPs needed to be aware of the changes adopted by the criminal justice system and by community partners. Even shelter workers operating in facilities with reduced capacity spoke to this complexity. One shelter worker wrote:

Although our intakes at the shelter have decreased since the pandemic, the individuals who do come in are experiencing complex issues. We don’t have as many clients to work with within the shelter, but the work feels heavier and harder.

Overall, the most common safety concerns related to the toll from being chronically overextended. A manager in victim services wrote:

COVID has reduced my and my team’s resilience. We are burnt out. What is more concerning is that I don’t know where or how relief is coming? How do we heal? When does the pressure let up? As a manager, I am very disheartened to have to ask my staff to continue to work this hard and for so little every day. We deserve respect, we deserve fair compensation, we deserve health and wellness, we deserve better.

This connection to the overall compensation, benefits, and support available to employees in the sector was echoed by many participants. Almost one third (30%; n = 152) of respondents working part-time or full-time reported dissatisfaction with compensation and job security. One person contextualized the highly demanding, low-paid work during the pandemic this way: “Tough work + Tough workplace + COVID 19 = Maybe I need to think about a career change.” Some respondents were considering early retirement to escape the ongoing pressures of the pandemic on victim services, although at least one woman nearing her retirement age reported feeling stuck because she could not afford to retire.

One respondent described how the pandemic restrictions added complexities to the grief process of family members of homicide victims, who were not able to gather with family and friends to mourn their losses. Staff burnout had also been compounded by the losses of the pandemic. One respondent’s team lead had died of COVID-19, and they described how difficult it had been for the rest of the team to recover. VSP respondents reported feeling overburdened, tired, and feelings of disconnection between staff, volunteers, and community partners.

Several respondents commented on the inadequacy of government funding for their services. One person wrote: “The demand that has been placed on services like ours has shown how much we are relied on by the community with little to no support from government funders… the pandemic has shown a great discrepancy in government relations with transfer payment agencies.” The juxtaposition of low pay with what one person described as “life-changing and life-saving” care for survivors was a common theme among comments. One participant acknowledged that government funding was made available for specific needs created by the pandemic, such as the purchase of computers and software to support virtual service delivery, but also explained that the time required to source, purchase, and set up new technology was very demanding and added to an already-increased workload.

Workplace safety

A few participants expressed concern about interacting with unvaccinated clients. One respondent wrote: “I feel I have been expected to perform my job at times in ways that made me feel unsafe.” Another participant explained that clients were feeling frustrated because of pandemic-related barriers and that they were taking out their anger on staff and volunteers. One participant disclosed that they were considering leaving their position because vaccines were not mandated for workers or clients. A few mentioned disagreements with clients over the COVID-19 safety protocols of their agencies, and one respondent reported receiving death threats from a client.

Positive adaptation in the workplace

Still, some respondents acknowledged similar challenges while also expressing pride in their teams and what they had accomplished. One person wrote:

Myself, and my crew, have worked on the front lines during the entire health crisis. Our caseload has increased by 40%, but our staffing is still the same. All of my people have stayed healthy and have been professional and loyal to our organization, themselves, and to the public.

Several people praised their teams for managing the complex changes in practices and safety protocols, and for finding ways to support each other virtually. Similarly, a few respondents highlighted how some of the pandemic-related adaptations may better meet the needs of survivors. One person explained:

Zoom has allowed us to connect with people in honest and amazing ways, and all from the comforts of their homes, their living rooms, with their support animal or partner beside them. I hope we do not forget how powerful it is to let victims choose exactly how they want to communicate when this is all over, because I think it opened doors that had not been open in the past.

VSPs identified multiple ways that technology had removed barriers for survivors, allowing engagement from home without needing to book time off work, travel to an office, and pay for parking. A few respondents acknowledged that these adaptations may provide long-term benefits to some survivors, while not effectively meeting the needs of others, noting that a reliance on virtual service delivery introduced different barriers, often for people with more complex needs.

How working from home has affected work-life balance and mental health

The majority of survey respondents working full-time or part-time indicated spending more time working from home during the pandemic (67%, n = 334). Almost three in ten VSPs who reported these increases also reported a decrease in their work-life balance (32%, n =159) and 42% (n = 211) reported that their overall mental health had decreased as a result of these changes. Over seven in ten (72%; n = 362) reported that their level of stress had increased. One respondent explained the increase this way:

High turnover, pandemic-induced isolation, increasing demands and competing priorities make it difficult to work effectively and efficiently, adding to personal stress. Higher stress decreases ability to cope mentally with the psychological challenges of the job: vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue.

Respondents described how their mental health had been negatively affected by the pandemic, including feelings of isolation, disconnection, loss, and of frustration with the inefficiency of the system, and with increased levels of stress. One younger worker wrote:

I am 24 and I have had to start going to a psychologist…He wants to take me off of work due to stress leave and I don’t want to let my team down, so I won’t. I have started depression medication and it has increased once so far in 3 months.

Conflicting roles and responsibilities

Participants described challenges transitioning rapidly from work-related tasks to life-related tasks, both during and after the workday, particularly if children were home due to lockdowns. One participant explained:

Working from home while parenting, teaching, maintaining a house and relationship with your partner is NOT easy. It was not fair to anyone because I was a bad parent and a bad employee. I could not do both at 100% and this was shitty. I learned to let go and accept that work was secondary and my children needed me.

Others described feeling like work was “invading” their homes. Participants described finishing an eight-hour shift and jumping directly into supper, childcare, or housework duties, leaving little time to decompress. For many, this feeling was chronic, and many expressed that they had not been able to take time for themselves to the detriment of their mental health. One person explained:

The isolation has had a major impact on my ability to decompress after work, and to compartmentalize. It has become much harder to separate home and work life/problems, because I no longer have two separate environments, or a "time to go home" routine.

Many respondents reported that the nature of their work – which often involves interacting with people in crisis or with trauma – made it difficult to work from home. Participants described difficulties negotiating and setting boundaries, accessing effective trauma debriefing, getting away from traumatic content, and violations of their sense of home as a “safe space.” Many participants reported feeling isolated from their teams when they had been personally affected by their work. One person wrote:

I live alone, so working all day listening to the trauma of others and then not having someone to vent/speak to immediately was difficult. In an office setting I can hang up the phone and look at a co-worker. Working from home I could not. I had to wait until someone was available and by the time they were, I no longer wanted to vent/share what was on my mind.

Many echoed the challenges of effectively debriefing with co-workers. Having to either schedule a time, or have virtual meetings contributed to feelings of distance between staff members that made it more difficult to draw on these relationships for support.

Positive adaptation working from home

One third (33%, n = 167) of respondents remarked that they enjoyed working from home and that it had improved their work-life balance. Some participants also described how the challenges of the pandemic had prompted reflection, leading to new perspectives, greater self-awareness, or changes in practice and self-care. One person described how empathy for the challenges of survivors navigating the pandemic helped her recognize her own privilege and stay focused on her work. Another person described how the isolation helped them to place greater value on connection with others. Many people described how they had found ways, with time, to adapt their routines and approaches to work through reflecting on their priorities, trying out new methods of self-care, and having vulnerable conversations with their coworkers and personal connections. One respondent summed up these changes as follows:

While I’ve been more critical of systems, I’ve also been more hopeful of the future. I’ve learned and witnessed the resilience of survivors in the face of oppression. I do sometimes feel hopeless when the system continues to reproduce similar outcomes, but that also gives me reason to keep fighting for the people I support.

For some respondents with children, greater access to family was an additional benefit. One participant offered:

Personally, the pandemic had one really positive impact on myself and my children. We had a lot of home time together and it did us a lot of good. We connected and became closer and also had the opportunity to be continuously energized.

Some reported that the flexibility of working from home had reduced the pressures of family, which one person described as being “less frantic.” Many echoed the idea that they had been able to slow down, and one person said that it was nice to work in a “positive space.” Some workers in jobs with better compensation and benefits indicated that they had access to additional mental health support through their employee assistance programs (EAP), while other VSPs did not have access to an EAP.

Discussion

Much of the current literature is still lacking when it comes to investigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on VSPs and their well-being, especially in the Canadian context. Due to ways the pandemic has increased risk factors for victimization such as IPV (e.g., Kaukinen 2020), leading to an increased demand for victim services (e.g., Allen and Jaffray 2020), it is necessary to explore how the pandemic has affected VSPs. Respondents in this study shared different perspectives on how they had been affected by working from home, with some finding it more flexible and healthier because the work happens in “positive space,” while others found it more difficult because they felt the work was “invading safe space.” These differences in how VSPs experienced working from home suggest the need for flexible and diverse approaches to service delivery after the pandemic, providing greater choice for VSPs and survivors about which environments are best suited to meet their needs. Additionally, the increased use of technology has introduced the possibility of survivors meeting with VSPs or participating in the criminal justice system virtually, surrounded by the comforts of home. For some, this offers a safer and more inclusive service environment, which is worth retaining post-pandemic, while it also introduces barriers for those without access to technology.

At the same time, many VSPs reported that working remotely can make it difficult for them to make meaningful connections to their teams that can foster well-being. Care must be taken to ensure that there are opportunities to connect, debrief, and celebrate successes. Many respondents noted changes in self-care routines, either for the better (working from home meant more access to available self-care resources) or for the worse (closures of gyms and places to socialize). In the absence of structural, organizational support, individualized self-care plans may not be enough to protect worker well-being. Employees with more organizational support, better pay and benefits, and access to EAPs may be better equipped to handle the stressors of working in the field. Work is underway on a toolkit, based on the wider findings of this study, to support the well-being of VSPs.

Critically, the early findings from the online survey highlight a disparity in the resources and compensation available to VSPs working in different sub-sectors of victim services, and there continues to be a need for relief and for strengthening of workplace supports for those in the most precarious positions, who are predominantly women (Trudell and Whitmore 2020; Women’s Shelters Canada 2020). The findings also suggest that future government planning for public health crises and other disasters should better anticipate secondary harms, such as increases in violence, and plan to buffer the burden on VSPs who must respond to increased workloads and other complexities. Moreover, other Canadian research suggests that permanent funding for these organizations has not increased sufficiently to meet current needs and pandemic-related emergency funds do not address the shortfall (Moffitt et al. 2020; Trudell and Witmore 2020; Women’s Shelters Canada 2020). The findings from this study also suggest the need for increased, on-going financial support to ensure that victim service organizations are equipped to meet the future needs of their clients.

Critically, the early findings from the online survey highlight a disparity in the resources and compensation available to VSPs working in different sub-sectors of victim services, and there continues to be a need for relief and for strengthening of workplace supports for those in the most precarious positions, who are predominantly women (Trudell and Whitmore 2020; Women’s Shelters Canada 2020). The findings also suggest that future government planning for public health crises and other disasters should better anticipate secondary harms, such as increases in violence, and plan to buffer the burden on VSPs who must respond to increased workloads and other complexities. Moreover, other Canadian research suggests that permanent funding for these organizations has not increased sufficiently to meet current needs and pandemic-related emergency funds do not address the shortfall (Moffitt et al. 2020; Trudell and Witmore 2020; Women’s Shelters Canada 2020). The findings from this study also suggest the need for increased, on-going financial support to ensure that victim service organizations are equipped to meet the future needs of their clients.

Table 1
Sociodemographic and Organizational Characteristics of Study Participants

References

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