Introduction: traveling and humanitarian work

“It’s 10pm in South Africa, noon in California, and right now I believe I’m somewhere over Greenland. During the last ten days I’ve gone from pale winter sunshine in California, to snow in Colorado, to summer in Cape Town. I’ve spent 49 hours in the air and not nearly enough hours sleeping. On Thursday I ran a workshop for humanitarian workers who’ve spent the last three months of their year working in Sudan. The focus of the discussion was the stress associated with living life in a state of almost constant transition, and on this, at least, I am able to speak with conviction. With this assignment behind me I’m starting to think about everything that must be done before I leave for Christmas at home in Australia next week. I am too tired to sleep. It seems fitting, therefore, to use the time to write this year’s Christmas letter at 39,000 feet.…” (Lisa McKay, December 2004)

A career as a humanitarian worker can bring many things – hard work, wonderful adventures, personal growth, and heartbreak at the scope of suffering in this world. For many, it also means a lot of time spent on the road. Sometimes this travel is international – while your friends back home are collecting furniture and other trappings of “normal life,” you end up collecting stamps in your passport. Sometimes it’s domestic – long days and weeks away from home overseeing disaster relief efforts, running workshops, and implementing aid projects in remote areas of your own country.

For humanitarian workers, traveling can be exhilarating and enriching. However, frequent travel can also be stressful. Some of the most common reasons for this stress include:

1. The cumulative impact of constant change: Experiencing constant change in your work routine, living environment, and professional and social networks, can be stimulating, but it can also be exhausting. While many humanitarian workers thrive on novelty and challenge, constant change is stressful and will eventually take a toll if efforts are not made to compensate.
2. The dynamics of traveling: Traveling is tiring even if you’re not battling crowded airports, long flights, cross-cultural differences, and the difficulties of crossing multiple time zones. Packing and getting organized to be away, being in unfamiliar environments, and playing catch-up when you get back, all take extra attention and energy.
3. Dramatic changes in purpose, intensity, and “status”: “On the field” humanitarian workers can get used to being different, being noticed, dealing with intense and life-changing issues, and making important decisions. “At home” they are usually not a “special” person, living in a special place, doing special work. In comparison to the intensity and purpose that can be associated with life on the road, life at home can come to seem mundane and less meaningful.
4. Personal changes that occur in you as a result of the work: Humanitarian work impacts your attitudes and values. Even a short-term mission will result in some change. Some of these changes are permanent - being exposed to different ways of thinking and doing things can alter your perspective for good. Often, however, people at home have not changed the same way you have. The more you are away from home, the more likely your attitudes and values are to change, and the more likely you are to feel like you no longer belong where you once did.
5. Difficulty maintaining important personal relationships: What you have experienced, the ways in which you may have changed, and the important events you have missed in other people’s lives – these can all combine to make it more difficult to relate to people back home after you have been away.

Travel is a normal part of life for many humanitarian workers, but they are not protected from finding it stressful just because they are working for a good cause. To date, the research on humanitarian workers suggests that practical travel difficulties and distress at being separated from family and friends are among the most stressful work-related challenges that they face.

There are a number of ways that humanitarian workers can prepare to meet the challenges of a high-transition lifestyle more effectively. Every humanitarian worker should understand how they personally find travel challenging, and how to proactively manage travel-stress. It is very important to take the time to think through the costs and rewards of this work, and identify and practice work-life boundaries that work for you. It will help to ensure that you can still be happy, healthy, and effective doing your job five years from now.

This is the third in a series of online training modules produced by the Headington Institute that explores aspects of traumatic stress related to humanitarian work. This online training module aims to help humanitarian workers:

1. Identify differences between life “at home” and “on the road”
2. Better understand the dynamics of the transitions that humanitarian assignments demand (preparing to leave, life on the road, and re-entry)
3. Identify strategies to better cope with travel stress during these transitions

This module builds on material presented in the first module in this series, Understanding and coping with traumatic stress. Readers who have not completed that module are advised to do so before continuing.

Additional online modules provided by the Headington Institute include:

• Understanding and coping with traumatic stress (series introduction)
• Trauma and critical incident care for humanitarian workers
• Understanding and coping with vicarious trauma
• Humanitarian work, traumatic stress, and spirituality
• All in the family: Self-care for spouses and family members of humanitarian workers

As you work through the different sections in this module, take the opportunity to reflect on how this information is relevant to your work and life. To help you in this process, we have included questions at the end of many study sections in boxes that look like this:

	For personal reflection… Taking the time to think through your answers to these questions will increase your learning and retention over time. Writing down your answers to these questions may be even more helpful to you. Studies have shown that guided journaling can be very beneficial to your physical and emotional health. Writing down your answers will also leave you with a written record that you can refer back to and reflect on as you set self-care goals.

Next: Research summary: Frequent travel and our health

The information contained in these modules is provided solely for educational purposes. The self-examination exercises and scales on this website are not intended to be used as diagnostic or treatment tools. Any concerns you might have about mental health issues should be discussed with a qualified mental health professional. If any of the material in this module raises concerns for you, please contact the Headington Institute staff or other appropriately qualified mental health professionals.