The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2016

48 JULY-AUGUST 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL Angela Dickey, a retired Foreign Service officer, was posted in Africa, Canada, the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Washington, D.C. Now an independent trainer and consultant, she recently received a master’s certificate in conflict transformation from Eastern Mennonite Uni- versity’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding. She is also a certified EMU/CJP STAR (Strategies for Trauma Awareness and Resilience) trainer. T he Foreign Service Act of 1980 mandates a “career foreign service characterized by excellence and professionalism” as “essential in the national interest to assist the President and the Secretary of State in conducting the foreign affairs of the United States.” Excellence and professionalism are dif- ficult to maintain in an environment that requires repeated exposure to stressful and potentially traumatic situations. The January-February Foreign Service Journal , devoted to mental health care, contained the poignant and distressing stories of 45 anonymous Foreign Service personnel. These reports describe an insensitive and inadequate response from the depart- ment to an unprecedented level of trauma in the workforce. The testimonies of those who wrote to the FSJ illustrate power- fully that Foreign Service employees enjoy no separation between home and job, at least not when they are posted abroad. The experience is immersive. Note also the following realities for the typical Foreign Service professional: • During the past two decades, the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention and other researchers have documented that trauma is prevalent in daily life in the United States. Therefore, the depart- ment must assume that at least some of the persons it hires have had previous exposure to trauma—even before being sent abroad. Any employee joining the workforce may have life experiences that weigh heavily and negatively on his or her wellness. • More than 25 percent of today’s Foreign Service members have served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Libya or Yemen—the Priority Staffing Posts. Many more have served and are serving in other dangerous places such as Somalia, South Sudan and Leba- Long Past Time to Talk About Trauma Raising Awareness and Resilience FEATURE Taking better care of employees—from pre-employment to post-employment—makes economic sense, creates better morale and is the right thing to do. BY ANGE LA R . D I CKEY