Building Trauma Informed Service Delivery Environments

I attended a seminar entitled Trauma Informed care which was presented by Center for Urban Community Services the Institute for Training & Consulting. The facilitator opened the training by defining Trauma informed care which is an engagement technique that recognizes the presence of trauma history and acknowledges the role of trauma in the lives of survivors’. The training provided an overview of the new diagnostic criteria from DSM-5 of Post Traumatic Disorder and other trauma related disorders (generalized anxiety, panic disorder, dissociative disorder) as well as other symptoms and behaviors that can result from trauma. The trainer also discussed vicarious trauma and its impact on staff supporting clients with trauma history.

While there is agreement that trauma informed care generally refers to a philosophical stance integrating awareness and understanding of trauma and its ongoing impact on patients’ health and lives, there is not yet consensus on a definition or clarity on how the model can be applied in a variety of settings. The philosophical underpinnings of trauma informed care trace to the feminist movements of the 1970s (Burgess & Holstrom, 1974), and the emergence of child-advocacy centers and awareness and response to child abuse in the 1980s. In combination with the growth of research in combat-related posttraumatic stress after the Vietnam War, the focus then expanded to mental health practice, especially in the context of traumatic events. By the late 1990s and early 2000s, social work and mental health professionals began to articulate organizational frameworks for delivery of trauma informed care, as well as conceptual models based on scientific evidence about how traumatic stress impacts brains and behavior (Bloom, 1997; Harris & Fallot, 2001; Covington, 2002; Rivard, Bloom, & Abramovitz, 2003; Ko, Ford, Kassam-Adams, et al. 2008; Bloom, 2010). In 1998, SAMHSA launched the Women, Co-Occurring Disorders and Violence study, a seminal study in 27 sites over five years that examined trauma-integrated services counseling. Following that, the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) began identification and distribution of empirically supported trauma-specific mental health

In a trauma informed agency, it’s important that all staff are frequently updated with the principles of trauma informed care (Trauma-Informed Care: A Sociocultural Perspective, 2014). Such principles would involve a collection of resources, evidence based research, academic findings, reports, and quality approaches used by collaborating agencies (Trauma-Informed Care: A Sociocultural Perspective, 2014). Resources are very valuable to staff when they are needing a new strategy, in the case of their clients not responding effectively to former methods (Trauma-Informed Care: A Sociocultural Perspective,

Jane is a nine year old girl who has been brought in to therapy by her mother for stealing, being destructive, lying, behaving aggressively toward her younger siblings, and acting cruelly to animals. Jane has also been acting clingy and affectionate toward strangers.

In Jennifer Cisney’s lecture on “Impact Dynamics of Crisis and Trauma,” she outlined four major goals of Psychological First Aid. Above all the material in Module One, I found this specific material most helpful in my practice because it gives me focal points to ensure I am putting the correct focus on Psychological First Aid that I should. We have been learning the critical important of this First Aid to trauma survivors and how if they can be “triaged” correctly by these First Aid components it greatly impacts the person’s recovery.

It is critical that clinicians be able to identify history of trauma in clients with psychotic disorders (Putts, 2014, p.83). Researchers reviewed the clients’ charts and found that in clients with at least one hospitalization related to psychiatric issues there was an 87.2% exposure to trauma identified by the researchers versus a 28% exposure to trauma identified by clinicians (Putts, 2014, p.83). The lack of recognition of exposure to trauma by clinicians has a significant impact in client’s experience during treatment because many of them lack the skills to bring up the topic for discussion during counseling, and many other clients are not even aware of the relationship between their traumatic experiences, and how those experiences have

The goal of training the staff and providers is to create a more understanding environment for the clients. This will be possible because the staff can recognize symptoms of posttraumatic-stress disorder, explore the client’s trauma and coping mechanisms, and decrease the need for medical attention. This goal can be measured by comparing the clients feedback before and after the training occurs. Trauma-informed care also teaches the clinician working with the client the symptoms of secondary trauma, retraumatization, and vicarious trauma to be on the look-out for. Their own self-care and how to handle and cope with the intense information of the client’s story will be discussed.

The term “Psychological trauma” refers to damage wrought from a traumatic event, which that damages one’s ability to cope with stressors. “Trauma” is commonly defined as an exposure to a situation in which a person is confronted with an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to self or others’ physical well-being (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Specific types of client trauma frequently encountered by which therapists and other mental health workers frequently encounter in a clinical setting include sexual abuse, physical , or sexual assault, natural disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis, domestic violence, and school or/and work related violence (James & Gilliland, 2001). Traumatic

Trauma-informed care refers to a strength-based framework that is based on an understanding of the impact of trauma. This practice emphasizes on psychological, physical, and emotional safety for the providers, the survivors, and it creates an opportunity for the survivors to rebuild themselves and get a sense of control and empowerment. This practice is based on the growing knowledge about several negative impacts that are brought by psychological trauma (Withers, 2017). To understand more about trauma-informed care, this excerpt will examine what the concept entails, how one can change his or her practice to be more trauma-informed and incorporate Eric's experience in the discussion.

In my opinion if my fellow peers are failing to realize that they need help overcoming or learning to live with the effects of traumatic experiences, then they are failing themselves as professional. How are they going to address a patient coming in to the office dealing with an event such as rape? Are they going to turn the patient away and not want to deal with him or her because the issue is to uncomfortable to deal with or they will be fearing of reliving their traumatic

This paper will define The Effects of Trauma and Crisis on Clients and Mental Health Counselors and give a brief overview on how these Natural and man-made disasters, crises, and other trauma-causing events have become a focus of the clinical mental health counseling profession. Due to the extreme trauma that children, adolescents and adult experience after a traumatic event it, is noted that most individuals that are exposed to traumatic experience usually develop major depression, generalized anxiety, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) later in

Human rights and trauma informed care must be taken into consideration when initiating any plan. The main human rights issue to consider in an education non-profit is Article 26, which states “Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms“ (National Association of Social Workers, 2016). The focus of an organization within the non-profit education sector is to improve the safety and enhance the effectiveness of schools. Article 23, which states “Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment” (National Association of Social Workers, 2016), is also relevant in this sector, which often has high expectations of parental involvement

The priority population is the staff of a school where I am introducing a trauma informed care program based on a prepared program based on A.C.E.S training. All of the school staff is included in this cultural shift. This is to insure that students will be consistently treated the same way whether they have an encounter with a cafeteria worker, a paraprofessional, or a teacher. The adults in the school will be the example and the leadership that models the program to the students and it will be important to involve in them implementation process.

The Trauma Informed Mastery activities were helpful throughout the semester working with my clients at Hamilton Center. I utilized the activities that my supervisor and I discussed were most beneficial towards the client population I was counseling at the time. Many of my clients suffer from PTSD, Substance Use disorders, or other mood disorders. The majority of my clients are also middle aged men who politely refused any yoga activities. One client heard the choice, looked around my small office and shook his head grinning.

Although the need for training and supervision in trauma work has grown gradually, students often still receive minimal knowledge regarding trauma therapy in academic courses, training seminars, and clinical practice. Sharon ( ) indicates that it is important for therapists to get thorough understanding of trauma, including its effects and its potential to influence treatment outcome when working with trauma clients. The author further states that it is essential that either new or experienced therapists receive ongoing education maintain their levels of competence. On the level of microsystem, the gap in education and the growing number of trauma clients suggest the need for graduate programs to include a trauma course as part of their curriculum (Sharon). The author suggests that trauma course