Essay on Interview to a Senior Citizen

“The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”- Alan Watts

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

I never expected to feel so angry and helpless when it came to trauma within my own family. Angry at the people who caused and angry with the people who didn’t help. I understand that everyone processes these situations differently and for my family members, the processes ranged greatly. I had some

Grohol, J. (2011). Mental Health Needs of Older Americans. Psych Central. Retrieved on September 29, 2013, from http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2011/05/02/mental-health-needs-of-older-americans/

There are different types of trauma child welfare programs focus on. They typically focus on behavioral and emotional problems and ways to correct the child (Greeson et al. 94). However, it is not as simple as the welfare programs want it to be. One first must look at the trauma history of the child, or the “Trauma History Profile”, also known as THP (Greeson et al. 97). The THP addresses “lifetime exposure to trauma and contains a

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.

Aging and being old was dominated by negative characteristics and conditions such as illness, depression, and isolation for a long time (Eibach, Mock, & Courtney, 2010). At first glance the terms “success” and “aging” seem to be in conflict to each other. When asking people about aging, their answers have many facets that are also found in psychological definitions: successful aging is seen as health, maturity and personal growth, self-acceptance, happiness, generativity, coping, and acceptance of age-related limitations. In the psychological sense successful aging is also often seen as the absence of age-associated characteristics (Strawbridge, Wallhagen, & Cohen, 2002). It seems that successful aging means is not aging.

Sullivan, Murray, and Ake (2016) identified that in the child welfare system, the provision of trauma-informed care is particularly critical due to the fact that when compared to other child-servicing systems, it has been determined that within this system, the likelihood of exposure to traumatic events is higher. Their study is focused on the description and evaluation of the first nationally available trauma-informed training resource developed for

In 2008, I joined the world’s finest Navy to support my country. Throughout my naval journey onboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt, I met and worked with many different people from

This experience was great I worked hard on gathering this information about Jack Kelso and how he impacted Lincoln’s life and then being able to use it in such away was amazing I never knew what to expect someone to ask. For example I didn’t know that there was a gun inside the Kelso home and the information that I had about rifles and muskets

I chose to interview John because my family has known him for years. Listening to him reminisce about his childhood and growing up in poverty gave me a greater appreciation to his generation.

Throughout this semester this class has allowed me the privilege to get to know people who I would have never talked to on a personal level while also having the chance to advance my interviewing skills while getting to know them. Not only did these interviews and experiences display my strengths such as being able to adapt to certain situations but even more importantly it helped show me my weaknesses. After one interview and the next, I had to learn what role I had to play as within each interview I had to adapt to find my specific role as it varied from one to the next. Having the opportunity to interview a handful of people from the beginning of this semester to now has also taught me that the person you are interviewing can have a tremendous effect on if the interview goes successfully or not for reasons that I will elaborate on further in my paper. Lastly, one of the greatest lessons I learned about while interviewing people would be how to properly prepare to make sure the interview itself go as smoothly as possible. All of these factors have helped me grow in becoming a better interviewer and have helped me grow as a person.

Trauma is very complex and varied in its nature. Traumatic events include child abuse, neglect and maltreatment. Wamser‐Nanney & Vandenberg (2013) found that one of the more harmful types of trauma is the abuse is committed intentionally. This directly impacts the victim 's safety and sense of trust. The devastating effects of this type of trauma is the way in which it impacts not only the survivors, but also future generations, and the ability they have to form attachments (Connolly, 2011).

When I decided to take the trauma course, I was hesitant at first to take it. I did not know what to expect nor felt I would be prepare listen to stories about traumatic occurrences, despite of the number of years I have worked in the field of community mental health. Therefore, now that we are in week eight, I am delighted to have taken this course. The impression I had at first, has changed my insight concerning what is trauma, as for many years, I did not understand why a person in many instances, could not process their trauma. In a quote by Chang stated, “The greater the doubt, the greater the awakening; the smaller the doubt, the smaller the awakening. No doubt, no awakening” (Van Der Kolk, 2014, p. 22). The goes in congruence with my understanding on trauma and how it has changed during this course. As a result, I feel I am awakening when acquiring more about trauma.