‘Hone my wounds into skills’: Social work students’ coping resources in navigating a shared wartime reality

Abstract Research increasingly recognizes the challenges that shared traumatic reality (STR) poses to social work students, who are both personally exposed to traumatic conditions and professionally expected to support others facing the same conditions. However, little attention has been given to their coping resources. Informed by conservation of resources (COR) theory, these coping resources were examined through a thematic analysis of twelve written reflections by third-year Israeli social work students during the first year of the 2023–5 Israel–Gaza war. The findings indicated that students’ coping experiences included two main interrelated trajectories: (1) from emotional overload and self-vulnerability to personal and professional resilience, and (2) from professional insecurity to growing confidence. Regarding the first, external coping resources such as supervision and peer support helped students express their vulnerabilities, while trauma-related knowledge and tools were employed to foster self-awareness and self-compassion. Professional confidence was enhanced by a combination of knowledge and skills, the presence of a significant other who validated their emerging professional identity, adherence to professional values, internalized traits, and the development of professional abilities such as flexibility. Mapping these resources and their benefits can provide educators with a roadmap to support students in conflict-ridden zones.