BRAVE Method training launches for trauma-exposed workforces
BRAVE Providers launched an organizational training program aimed at vicarious trauma, resilience and retention in trauma-exposed jobs.
By Tom Brennan · Health & Medicine Correspondent
3 min read
BRAVE Providers has launched The BRAVE Method, an organizational program for trauma-exposed teams and their managers. The BRAVE Method training targets a workforce problem facing mental health, healthcare, child welfare, first response and related fields: how to retain people whose jobs bring repeated contact with trauma.
The program was developed by Jenny Hughes, PhD, the company’s founder, a licensed clinical psychologist and an assistant professor in academic medicine. BRAVE Providers describes the training as evidence-informed and designed to give agencies, groups and employers a common framework for addressing vicarious trauma at work.
Vicarious trauma refers to the emotional and psychological effects that can come from repeated exposure to other people’s traumatic experiences. Vicarious resilience is the growth, renewed purpose or meaning professionals may experience when they witness recovery, justice or change among the people they serve.
What is The BRAVE Method training?
The BRAVE Method is built around three steps: Name It, Tame It and Reframe It. Teams are taught to recognize how vicarious trauma appears in individuals and systems, use practical responses when its effects show up, and strengthen resilience through supervision, peer support and daily workflow.
The launch reflects a shift in how some employers are approaching staff strain in trauma-exposed roles. Rather than treating burnout and secondary trauma only as individual wellness issues, the program focuses on team practices, leadership habits and workplace culture.
BRAVE Providers said trauma exposure is part of the work in mental and behavioral health, child welfare, victim services, healthcare, education, veterinary medicine, crisis response, first response and the legal system. Organizations in those fields also face turnover and staffing shortages, and the company said replacing one experienced professional can cost tens of thousands of dollars.
Hughes said organizations cannot rely on wellness perks alone to address retention among trauma-exposed workers. “People who do trauma-exposed work aren't meant to do it in isolation, and their organizations can't solve retention with wellness perks alone,” she said. “Vicarious trauma comes with being human in this work, and so does vicarious resilience.”
The organizational training for vicarious trauma is offered virtually and onsite nationwide. It is customized to an organization’s roles and context, according to BRAVE Providers, and is delivered in two tiers.
Core Training: A half-day skills session for leaders and staff, focused on shared language and practices teams can use after the training.
Leadership Enhancement: A full-day session that builds on the core program with trauma-informed leadership development for supervision, feedback and workplace systems.
Pre- and post-training assessment is available with both tiers. BRAVE Providers said it will limit capacity to a small number of organizations each month.
The company said Hughes developed the method through her work with trauma therapists, a group with concentrated exposure to trauma, and through training and speaking with child-serving agencies, healthcare teams and professional associations. Hughes is also planning to expand on the framework in a podcast on vicarious trauma and resilience scheduled to launch in August 2026.