In Ireland, Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based violence is a vast and prominent topic that the government is trying to eliminate and diminish as it is significant social issue that affects anyone no matter their gender, social status or community. In response Ireland has developed a solid government support system as well as a strong non-governmental organisation sector. Although, there is a pathway of support for those affected by such violence, there is an evident lack of support for those who provide it.

This was the starting point of our project. We worked with potential students as partners to develop an effective online micro-credential that would inform and help support practitioners with their everyday threat of facing vicarious trauma and burnout, as well as equipping them with useful tools to create their own self-care plans to further minimise the risks of a trauma occurring. This would be a new approach to developing a module as we are directly working with feedback from the targeted student pool.

The project has four stages: Development, Testing, Feedback and Amendments. Firstly, based on peer-reviewed literature and the three National Strategies a trial micro-credential was developed. Then it was tested by DSGBV organisations’ practitioners to test and go through all the content as well as the digital pedagogies such as videos, reflections, quizzes and self-plans. We used a mixed method approach to fully utilise the feedback given by the practitioners. This consisted of an online questionnaire asking them about the content, navigation, design and usefulness of the micro-credential. Afterwards, volunteers were asked to join a one-on-one interview to further discuss the positives and negatives of the micro-credential. The last step is reviewing and applying the feedback from the practitioners to make sure that the micro-credential is fit for them.

By the end of the process, the micro-credential, called Certificate in Managing Vicarious Trauma and Self-care for DSGBV frontline workers, will be offered to practitioners through Dundalk Institute of Technology as part of our suite of micro-credentials. This will follow the Dundalk's Institute of Technology micro-credential policy where the objective is to provide a quality assurance framework for validation and certification of micro-credentials, units of learning that attract less than 10 ECTS credits (DkIT, 2024). Additionally, it will broaden the reach of the RiVeR Project at Dundalk Institute of Technology as their aim is to provide available opportunities for education and training to cohorts that are most in need of further support and education in the area of DSGBV. Building on their successful programme 'Certificate in the Fundamentals of Understanding and Responding to Domestic Abuse' which has been running since 2016 and was the first accredited education programme of its kind in Ireland.