Trauma-Informed Care
A Sociocultural Perspective
Instructor: Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes, PhD, LPC-MHSP
Podcast Host: Counselor Toolbox and Happiness Isn’t Brain Surgery
Objectives
~ Define “What is Trauma”
~ Explore why trauma informed care is important
~ Learn the 3 key elements to a trauma informed approach: Realizing, recognizing and responding
~ Identify trauma informed intervention and treatment principles
~ Learn how to anticipate the interplay between treatment elements and clients' trauma histories
~ Identify the cross-cutting factors of culture
What is Trauma
~ Traumatic events are those which the person experiences a threat of death, serious injury to self or self concept or threat to the physical integrity to self or another.
~ Events may be:
~ Human-made, such as a mechanical error that causes a disaster, war, terrorism, violence or neglect
~ “Traumatization can also occur from neglectwhich is the absence of essential physical or emotional care, soothing and restorative experiences from significant others,particularly in children.” (International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, 2009)
~ Products of nature (e.g., flooding, hurricanes, tornadoes).
What is Trauma
~ Trauma can occur at any age or developmental stage, and often, events that occur outside expected life stages are perceived as traumatic (e.g., a child dying before a parent, cancer as a teen, personal illness, job loss before retirement).
~ Individuals may experience the traumatic event directly, witness an event, feel threatened, or hear about an event that affects someone they know.
~ It is not just the event itself that determines whether something is traumatic, but also the individual’s experience of the event.
What is Trauma
~ Just because something does not DSM V criteria for ASD/PTSD does not mean it wasn’t traumatic
~ Trauma is something that:
~ Overwhelms our coping capacity
~ Affects the whole self
~ Physical
~ Emotional
~ Intellectual/Cognitive
~ Spiritual
~ Interpersonal
Why Is Trauma Informed Care Important
~ National Comorbidity Study 61 percent of men and 51 percent of women reported experiencing at least one trauma in their lifetime
~ National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, 71.6 percent of the sample reported experiencing trauma
~ In a survey at the Alachua County Jail, 99% of female inmates reported having experienced trauma
Why Is Trauma Informed Care Important
Why Is Trauma Informed Care Important
~ Improve screening, assessment, treatment planning,
~ Decrease the risk for retraumatization.
~ Enhance communication between the client and treatment provider, thus decreasing risks associated with misunderstanding the client’s reactions and presenting problems or underestimating the need for appropriate referrals
~ Improved cost effectiveness because services are more appropriately matched to clients from the outset.
~ Ensures the implementation of decisions that will optimize therapeutic outcomes and minimize adverse effects on the client and, ultimately, the organization.
~ Clients and staff are more apt to be empowered, invested, and satisfied if they are involved in the ongoing development and delivery of services.
Why Is Trauma Informed Care Important
~ To increase clinician self-awareness of trauma triggers
~ To increase clinician awareness of the variety of emotional, behavioral, interpersonal and physical symptoms of trauma
~ To provide appropriate responses to trauma related reactions or symptoms
~ To prevent the clinician from delving too deeply too quickly and unwittingly harming the client
~ To aid the client in developing a safety net to prevent further trauma
~ To provide clinicians w