The Rothko Chapel and MasterWord Services, Inc. are teaming up to help those wrestling with vicarious trauma, offering them tools and practices to better understand and constructively address work related stress while strengthening their sense of inner-peace and well-being.

“Vicarious trauma” describes the phenomenon when professional service providers – such as doctors, interpreters and therapists – experience mental or emotional distress through their experience of helping others.

The free event, Vicarious Trauma: Healing From Within, will be held on Thursday, July 27 and begins with a reception at 6 p.m. with light refreshments, followed by a presentation and meditation at 7 p.m. The Rothko Chapel is located at 3900 Yupon.

Dr. Alejandro Chaoul, an advisor and regular presenter at the Rothko Chapel, will be leading the meditation designed to provide methods for self-care. “The majority of the participants are interpreters, many of whom are working at hospitals, jails or courthouses,” he said. “They are often translating a difficult diagnosis or bad news. What happens is that the translators take on part of the trauma themselves.”

Chaoul will provide helpful techniques that will be valuable throughout the lives and careers of participants. “They can learn these skills one time — and keep practicing them,” he said. “We’re going to teach small things that they can take home and make part of their daily practices.”

Meditation practices do not have to be labor intensive. “Something as simple as a breath can be a way of reconnecting to yourself in the moment.” Chaoul said. “This is not to say you have to meditate for an hour a day. If you take five minutes every day to yourself, to connect with yourself, and find a way to connect and renew your mind or reboot yourself, then you’re more prepared for the next traumatic situation.”

Even ordinary routines can be meditative with the right outlook. “It can be as simple as, if an interpreter is going from one patient’s room to another, when they wash their hands, imagine that they are not just washing their hands, but their whole system,” Chaoul said.

Rothko Chapel Executive Director David Leslie will also lead a portion of the program, which will illustrate how physical spaces, such as the Chapel, can help people connect with their inner world.

“An external sacred space can be a great refuge to reconnect us to what we sometimes call an inner refuge,” he said. “The hope is that this allows you to be more still in the moment, more silent, more open and connected. To find your inner sacred space, it can help to have an outer space to support it.”

Ludmila Golovine, president of MasterWord Services, Inc., looks forward to hosting the program.

“This directly affects the heart of our company – our language service professionals,” she said. “We want to teach them how to cope with the feelings and thoughts that they carry with them.”

For more information about the event and to register, visit rothkochapel.org/experience/events/event/vicarious-trauma-healing-from-within

For more information about the Rothko Chapel, including a full calendar of upcoming programs, workshops and events, visit rothkochapel.org or call 713-524-9839.

For more information about MasterWord Services, visit www.masterword.com