'Emergency Routine': The Experience of Professionals in a Shared Traumatic Reality of War

Most of our knowledge about the consequences of professionals double exposure-as professionals and as individuals-to disasters in the communities in which they live and work comes from studies following a single terror attack or a one-time natural disaster. This paper reports the findings of a qualitative, interview-based study of the experiences of fifteen social workers who worked and lived in an area of Israel that was subjected to repeated Qassam attacks during the one-month-long Gaza War. The social workers drew a distinction between passing exposure to one-time terror attacks and natural disasters and the unalleviated exposure to the on-going war. Their exposure to the war, they told, led them to adopt an 'emergency routine'. This routine was characterised by constant preparedness, vigilance and incessant planning on their part, as well as by demands from their employers that they be constantly available for both their regular and emergency work. The results of the emergency routine were intense emotional pressure and, for those who had children living with them, intensified work-family conflict. Many of the interviewees expressed anger and resentment that they were taken for granted by the system and left to deal with their fears and needs on their own. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are noted and further research recommended.