What is Trauma Informed Care?
As a psychotherapist I realize I throw around words and phrases that seem “everyday” to me but perhaps others do not completely understand. Whoops! My bad… After all I am here to help my clients sort through their “stuff” not to confuse with jargon.
So let me shed some light on the term “Trauma Informed Care”
First let me start by saying this is a current “buzzword” in the therapy community and may not have one single agreed upon definition. So this is how I use the term for my practice.
Trauma Informed Care means we focus on the painful thing that happened to the client. But we do this with the understanding that trauma happens to every person, just with varying degrees. We do this because it helps us understand there isn’t a problem with the person who has been traumatized.
We also work to build awareness about how the trauma experienced by the client has impacted the mind, body, spirit, relationships, and expectations of the person.
There is absolutely no “what is wrong with you?” in trauma informed care (and hopefully no therapy!). Instead there is a focus on what has happened to the client.
We educate about revictimization and come up with a plan to minimize future trauma and help recover from the current pain.
There is an understanding that a person’s behaviors change after a trauma and we work to understand these behaviors as the client’s way to cope and survive, not as evidence of anything “bad.”
The underlying focus is on increasing the client’s independence voice, personal choices, and safety.
Trauma Informed Care is a somewhat general term but these fundamentals are part of the treatment plan. At my practice I use these guiding principles and draw from Trauma Focused Cognitive Behavior Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, Art therapy, Movement Therapy, and meditation in order to work with a client to figure out the best way for he/she to “slay the trauma dragon.”
I hope that helps!