In South Africa the incidence of violent crime is an everyday occurrence that affects the majority of the population directly and/or indirectly. Research reveals that counselling victims of violent crime may cause psychological symptoms in trauma workers, which in turn may lead to Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS). However, despite this knowledge, there appear to be very fewtrauma studies that focus on trauma workers. Furthermore there also appears to be a lack of studies that focus on the roles that key variables play in the transmission of STS. Therefore through the analysis of 64 self-report questionnaires, we aim to explore the psychological impact on trauma workers who work with 'victims' of violent crimes, specifically focusing on the level of exposure to traumatic material; level of empathy; level of perceived social support and their relation to STS. In order to test these hypotheses, analysis comprised simple statistics, correlations, a t test and a moderate multiple regression. Results indicate that the trauma workers, to some extent, experience symptoms of STS. In addition, it was found that previous exposure to traumatic material (in the personal lives of counsellors), level of empathy, and level of perceived social support have a significant relationship with STS. Social support was not found to have a moderating effect, but empathy emerged as a consistent moderator between the trauma workers' previous exposure to traumatic material and STS.

In this his paper the authors describe therapeutic interventions with survivors of child rape and sexual abuse at Alexandra Clinic in Gauteng. Cases presenting at this community clinic are described, in the context of the startling increase in crimes against children and particularly sexual offences. The literature pertaining to the effects of trauma on children, important mediating factors in the child's experience and existing interventions with child trauma survivors are then reviewed. Attention is focused on studies taking into account the impact of the trauma on the child's familial environment. A description of the general intervention approach employed is followed by a deeper exploration of two core issues which characterised this approach -the identification of both mother and child as clients and the use of the mother-child relationship as a central focus for therapeutic intervention. It is suggested that these strategies enable greater access to the experience of the younger child in particular, address the effects of secondary traumatisation upon care-takers and ensure that the gains of therapy are extended to the child's larger social network.