Trauma Informed "Care"?

Gregory Manning is awesome! He just shared a post of a lifetime on Linked In that helped me validate my own clinical expertise and experience!  I thank him forever!  The article that he shared engages a conversation about Trauma Informed Care.  What I love the most about it is that it doesn't discredit the need for trauma informed care, it simply questions whether or not it should be used holistically as a "one stop shop" for care of clients in social work and/or counseling.  Let me first explain. 

Below is how SAMHSA explains the "trauma informed approach:"

“A program, organization, or system that is trauma-informed:

1. Realizes the widespread impact of trauma and understands potential paths for recovery;

2. Recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in clients, families, staff, and others involved with the system;

3. Responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices; and

4. Seeks to actively resist re-traumatization."

A trauma-informed approach can be implemented in any type of service setting or organization and is distinct from trauma-specific interventions or treatments that are designed specifically to address the consequences of trauma and to facilitate healing. My dilemma with trauma informed care is the watered down method in which organizations have been utilizing the practice diluting it into another "evidenced based" system for them to make themselves look good. It's irritating. This is the same manner in which CBT and DBT started to become an "I do this" for counselors and therapists at agencies and I witnessed a "one size fits all" approach in which every single client that walked into their doors received the same therapeutic experience and many of them walked out of the doors without experiencing the life changing transformation required to assist them in gaining strength to face their mental health battles.

So what is the solution Ebone?

This is one person's opinion. There is work already being done by many organizations to debunk the myth that trauma informed care is a one size fits all approach. The best way for helping professionals to make world wide change in the arena of mental health is to start here:

1. Acknowledge the individual

2. Partner with them to navigate their trauma

3. Allow them to identify their personal path of healing

The largest mistake I have witnessed is a professional hearing an individual's story and automatically assuming they are largely affected by trauma in a way that is debilitating. For example, a foster youth experienced years of abuse and neglect while in the system and helping professional meets them and automatically assumes they need to explore their trauma and need therapy and need to resolve the conflict. This is disrespectful of the individual and ignores the existence of resiliency. Sometimes an individual has made an a personal emotional and mental choice to not allow the trauma to affect them. Sometimes the trauma manifests early and resolves early. Sometimes trauma manifests late and resolves late.

All individuals do not experience and/or cope with trauma in the same way.

I am here to plead with you, helping professional, doctor, nurse, teacher, social worker, counselor, psychiatrist, psychologist, case manager, mental health worker, law enforcement officer... PLEASE THE PERSON BEFORE YOU SEE THE TRAUMA! This is IMPERATIVE to our work to shift the narrative and make some effective change in our communities. Trauma informed care is NECESSARY in practice. We are called to practice in a more responsible way.