Every claims handler can tell you a story about the claim thatgot to him or her. It is often a story about the sudden, violentdeath of an ordinary person. These narratives usually include adetailed description of a small mistake that cascaded into atragedy or a rendition of a momentary loss of attention thatled to terrible consequences. These are quintessential claimsstories which speak to a chaotic, unpredictable world wherein thechances of sustaining pain, suffering, and death seem much morelikely. They arise from a narrow band of experience where fairnessand right living count for nothing. They are intended to bedisturbing because they originally disturbed the teller.

What is surprising, perhaps, is the fact that these vivid claimsstories may not have been experienced firsthand. Typically, theyinvolve a retelling of the victim's version of the injuries andloss events. Recall of these events does not seem to diminish overthe years and, in some cases, the effect of these stories on claimsprofessionals appears to be cumulative. Folks in other departmentsat insurance companies often comment about how claims handlers aredifferent than associates in sales and underwriting. They mentionthe specific types of stories that claims people relay and thatclaims people seem to be more prickly, negative, and cynical thanothers. These observations from other company departments raise aninteresting question: Does a close proximity to losses and thepeople that have suffered them have an emotional and physicalimpact on claims representatives themselves?

Counselors, social workers, psychotherapists, and psychologistshave long known that listening to the stories of clients canproduce what various authors have termed burnout, compassionfatigue, counter-transference, secondhand shock, secondary traumatic stress disorder, or vicarioustrauma. Focusing on claims handlers specifically, this suggeststhat we are not the cigar smoking personas portrayed by theplaintiff's bar in their commercials, impervious to the plight ofour customers. Instead, it appears that we are a rather common kindof human being who has ordinary feelings of compassion and empathyfor those we meet. Because of that, we are as susceptible toburnout and stress-related fatigue as any other group of serviceprofessionals.

In our work, the impacts of secondary shock may not rise to thelevel of qualifying for a diagnosis or a label, yet they could verywell include an avoidance of flying or driving if one has handledmany airlines disasters or car crashes. They may involve havingdreams about the claim event “that got to you.” Certain individualscould display anger, concentration problems, detachment fromothers, feelings of helplessness, hypervigilance, loss of interestin activities, irritability, loss of hope, excessive sleeping, orstartled responses. In others, these impacts may cause aresurfacing of old unresolved issues, a reliving of personallyexperienced trauma or something akin to survivor's guilt. Incidentsof crying, feeling anxious, fearful, frustrated, resentful, feelingemotionally numb, exhausted or overwhelmed have also been reported.Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung and religion writer Henri Nouwen bothused the term ”wounded healer” to reference those who, thoughvulnerable, were best at serving others. They proposed that thesame experiences that make us sensitive and ready to serve othersalso make us vulnerable for our entire lives. While serving traumavictims, we can be emotionally wounded anew and our oldemotional wounds can be reopened. For claimsmanagement, the message is that exposure to losses has thepotential to affect and diminish the effectiveness of claimshandlers. For claims handlers, the message is that you have aresponsibility for your own care that goes far beyond your job oran employer's obligation to provide you with a safe place to work.It all begins with a self-assessment of your mental state andemotional well-being. There is an excellent example of an online assessment available throughEast Carolina University at that reveals scores instantly andprovides the ability, through a download, to tally your own scoreif you prefer. Additionally, your workplace benefits may provideyou with an opportunity to speak about these things with acounselor as a part of your health plan.

The widely held belief that the services of counselors,psychologists, and social workers require that one be crazy inorder to obtain value from them is, of course, wrong. Those whodeny the existence of mental disorders need only to look aroundyour claims departments to see if any of the above symptoms ofvicarious trauma exists in co-workers. There are not many whobelieve that those who have worked at the site World Trade Centerafter the terrorist attacks were unaffected by their work. Most ofus have watched enough cop shows on TV to understand how stress impacts police officers.“Reality TV” cannot hold a candle to the experience of being in abig city hospital trauma center on Saturday night. You may know ofco-workers who are using alcohol or drugs as self-medication inorder to manage experiential stressors. There are dozens of otherexamples available if you are still in denial that trauma-inducedstress is real. If you believe that you may be exhibiting symptomsof stress, then you may benefit from learning more about the sortsof interventions can prevent trauma-related stress from interferingwith your overall enjoyment of your job and life.

The handling of losses is a consuming profession that can absorball of the life energy that you now have or will ever possess. Goodmental health requires a balancing of obligations, self-monitoringof your own needs, and wise utilization of mental health days andvacation time. Personal activities outside of work are not justfrivolous expenditures of time. Likewise, investing more than fivehours a night to obtain an adequate amount of sleep andphysiological repair is not a sign of weakness. Relaxation is hardwork for claims people. We are accustomed, as a group, to managingeverything. Exercise is not high on claims handlers' lists either,but it is absolutely required to avoid the somatization ofunprocessed emotions. Historically, claims professionals havereaped more than their fair share of heart attacks by forgetting the importance of a healthy mix ofactivities.

Debriefing and attention to case load management can beeffective tools for maintaining effective, experienced employees inclaims organizations. Debriefings, which are sometimes called“cathartic ventilations” by talk therapists, provide a way for usto manage stressful experiences. Close work groups are emotionallyhealthier places to be than isolates when stressful periods of workare encountered. We were, none of us, built to manage ourexperience of trauma by ourselves. What makes us human is not, asmany would tell you, having fingers and opposable thumbs. Whatactually differentiates us is the ability to be both storytellersand empathetic listeners. Far too many claimshandlers look up at the skies anxiously each morning to see if today'sweather promises new claims for their inboxes. Claims handlers canhit a wall at the five-year service anniversary if an overwhelmingview of the future becomes resident. About 10 years ago, when Iserved as a night chaplain at a large urban-based children'shospital, I had to periodically remind myself that the patientsthat I was seeing were the unfortunate few rather than the norm.Listening to myself, I had to remember when I needed to go and lookin the nursery window and count the perfectly-formed, healthychildren that constitute the great majority of our infantpopulation. Most of us are, thanks to our claims training, highlyskilled listeners. As such, we would be well-served to employ someof those skills on ourselves. In addition to that, we can alsolearn to include the opinions of those closest to us to insure morehonest appraisals of our own states of mind.

If all of that was in place, then we may decide to honor thetremendous work that is being done by our claims representativesevery day in addition to the short-lived but exhaustive effortsthat are made while serving on storm duty. In order to make thathappen, supervisors must remember to recognize extraordinaryperformance in writing and to offer words of praise as opposed toseeing themselves as only having the time for error correction.Prompt, fair claims service is like magic to those who lose a homeand are enabled to move into a new one in just a couple of weeks.Claims service can be the product that meets policyholderexpectations when it is delivered by appreciated, healthy, and“well-adjusted” claims people.

It is a privilege to serve on the claims staff of an insurancecompany. Most career claims people have seen the construction ofmore buildings and affected more lives than a Roman emperor. Yearslike 2011 with record numbers of catastrophe claims remind us of how muchinsurance and claims handling services are needed to manage theuncertainties faced by everyone who is at risk. In preparation forthe delivery of services to these customers we claims handlers andmanagers must follow a personal “fitness” regimen that includes anawareness of current status and vulnerabilities, the maintenance ofreasonable boundaries, and, yes, also the right mix ofself-concern.

Gary Givler, M.A. PC, is an ordained Episcopal minister, amaster's level counselor, and a vice president of claims of a largeU.S. insurer.