On coping with an atmosphere of torture

Our professor asked me this week how I was coping in my classes, just after I said I spent half my week absorbed in the study of torture and its impact on the human psyche. Three of my five classes address the issue: Ministry to Survivors of Human Rights Abuses; Reconciliation (these two at Catholic Theological Union) and Public Theology at CTS, through which I now try to blog intelligently and more frequently.
I answered partially, by saying that to cope with the intensity of this ongoing discussion, I have invested far more time in my friendships and connections with others. These images and stories are not ones to be left with in isolation. This makes a certain amount of sense; since torture is all about the destructive power of isolation.
The other two classes I'm in, on pastoral care and counseling, do much to keep me going through the semester. I think in any good pastoral care class, or any good counseling class, even a little healing will rub off on you in the course of study.
I also write. I've been writing volumes ever since I went to Palestine, if only to keep experiences from playing continuously in my mind. And also to remind myself of the good, all the beautiful experiences in between moments of grisly human rights abuses.
'Secondary trauma is a phenomenon only recently discussed among aid workers and activists who work in places of intense suffering. A few short years ago, the belief was if you had enough faith, you could get through it; and to need treatment for PTSD, or even breaks for your own balance, was a sign of weakness. While this attitude still persists in places, I am glad for the change.
I've been aware for a while now, that I may not be able to go back to direct human rights work for much longer in the future. I may well have absorbed enough in the four years I was doing it--and there was a lot. Recruiting for more new human rights workers is getting easier in our global society; however, I think there is a severe need for pastoral caregivers attending especially to the workers in these places--trained in PTSD treatment as well as spiritual counseling. I notice the stirrings of energy and vision for this type of work; energy that I find hard to muster in many other situations. And this, really, is how I cope.