What is a trauma-informed approach?

Trauma can be a single event, or it can be ongoing events, either in one’s interpersonal experiences, or circumstances on a larger scale such as colonization, oppression, or war which have result in lasting physical and/or emotional harm.

We understand that trauma has long-lasting effects, even if an individual is not actively experiencing traumatization.

Many individuals who have experienced trauma and adversity develop resiliency, and are able to adapt and grow as a result of their experiences.

Resiliency helps us conceptualize how systems and services can be built to help support people who experience trauma to prevent further harm from occurring and encourage growth and healing.

A trauma-informed care approach assumes that people are more likely than not to have a trauma history, and recognizes how trauma plays a role in an individual’s life. It understands how pervasive trauma is, and emphasizes the importance of healing and recovery. The pervasiveness of trauma plays into the idea of a universal precaution, which understands that it is prudent to use a trauma-informed approach in all situations and contexts by assuming that everyone has experienced some kind of trauma or that one’s actions have the potential to traumatize or re-traumatize someone

A trauma-informed approach must be anti-racist and anti-oppression in order to effectively prevent re-traumatization. Re-traumatization is an interaction or environment that replicates or reinforces someone’s trauma, which brings forth the thoughts and feelings associated with the initial traumatic experience.

Trauma-informed care does not fix what has already happened to someone. Instead, it recognizes what can be changed and works to intentionally improve the current environment and, especially, to not make things worse.

The values of a trauma-informed approach make up a framework for how systems and individuals providing care can help mitigate re-traumatization. All of these values — safety, choice, collaboration, trustworthiness, and empowerment — must be addressed and emphasized to reduce traumatization and encourage healing.

When we conduct research about individuals and populations who have historically or currently experience oppression and stigmatization, there is the potential to re-traumatize or contribute to unintentional harm or discomfort the individuals involved in the research may experience. Researchers also bring their own experiences, including their own trauma, to their work.

As a result, it is important to acknowledge that experiences of trauma affect everyone involved in research on many levels, and also that we can change the culture of research to prevent unintentional harm and re-traumatization. This can be done by anticipating procedures and practices in research which may exacerbate trauma symptoms, and intentionally working toward ensuring physical and emotional safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment in research settings for both research participants and researchers.