Trauma-Informed Care is More Than a Buzzword

Trauma-Informed Care is More Than a Buzzword

“Trauma-informed” has become a common term in the fields of mental health and yoga. Nevertheless, trauma-informed care is more than a buzzword. It is a set of guiding principles and practices, which I will break down within this post.

This Blog Post Will Teach You:

• What it means to be trauma-informed
• How to identify the various types of trauma
• How to find a trauma-informed healer
• The history and future of trauma treatment

“It is a privilege to hold space for someone while they work through their trauma and that privilege should not be given freely.”

Olivia Schnur

Trauma-Informed Care Matters

Trauma exists within every layer of the body: mental, emotional, spiritual and physical.

It is paramount to find safe, compassionate, competent, and ethical healers. It is not enough to have good intentions when it comes to healing trauma.

Trusting someone to heal your trauma is an incredibly vulnerable and sensitive process. The risks of trusting the wrong person are too great to leave to chance. Trauma-informed care is more than a buzz word and you deserve to find someone capable of helping you heal.

What it Means to Be Trauma-Informed

Trauma-informed individuals know how to resolve the mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical results of trauma. They have also done their personal work to heal their own traumas. As a result, the focus remains on the individual seeking services.

Trauma-informed individuals are aware of the ethical and legal dimensions of healing work. They set safe and effective boundaries. These individuals also practice consent in every facet of their lives. They are aware of power dynamics at play and always ensure they are acting for the highest good of the individual. They know that trauma-informed care is more than a buzzword.

At a Minimum, Trauma-Informed Healers:

• Hold a license or registration to practice in their field
• Have specialized training specific to trauma-informed care
• Have an ethics code that they abide by
• Belong to an ethical, legal or professional organization

What is Trauma?

In general, I will define trauma as a reaction to a life-threatening event. However, the actual threat can be real or perceived. The event does not actually need to be life-threatening to be traumatic. The individual’s perception of the event as life-threatening is enough to lead to further trauma.

Vicarious Trauma

Trauma may be the result of something heard second-hand. Therefore, one does not have to directly experience a trauma in order to become traumatized. This is called vicarious or secondary trauma.

Race-Based Trauma

Trauma can also be a result of societal events. For example, minority populations may face race-based trauma through a lifetime of experiencing microaggressions, blatant racism, and a lack of representation in the media and culture. They may live with fear of further traumatization.

Gender-Based Trauma

Women may experience trauma as a result of a patriarchal culture that offers an unfair advantage to the male gender. Furthermore, in a society that normalizes and perpetuates violence against women, women are more likely to experience gender-based violence such as domestic abuse and sexual assault.

Intergenerational Trauma

Intergenerational trauma occurs when trauma is passed down from one generation to the next. Behaviors that one develops in order to cope with trauma can be learned. Also, trauma changes the bodies genetic make-up and can be passed down biologically.

Trauma Related to Gender and Sexual Identity

Individuals with varying gender and sexual identities may face trauma as a result of stigma, bullying, or harassment. These individuals may face further trauma when people mislabel them or assume their identities. Even worse, some people may blatantly ignore their gender or sexual identities. Often, these individuals are rejected by close family members of religious communities, adding another layer of trauma.

Systemic and Collective Trauma

Similarly, trauma may be systemic. Organizations can create trauma through unfair business practices, toxic culture, or bullying. Organizations can also perpetuate other forms of violence. For example, consistently paying women an unfair wage and not hiring minorities or people with differing abilities.

Trauma may also be the result of large scale events, like the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Similarly, the climate crisis can contribute to feelings of dread, panic, or trauma. While the effects may not at first seem personal, they have a collective toll.

Trauma exists on individual, cultural, social, systemic, and global levels. This is by no means an all-encompassing discussion on trauma. However, this may provide you with an understanding of how widespread trauma can be and the various forms it can take.

How to Choose the Right Trauma-Informed Healer for You

Individuals who mean well can still cause harm. This is another reason it is so important to choose the right healer for you. If practitioners cary their own unchecked misconceptions about trauma they may inadvertently re-traumatize the person they are working with.

In order to ensure you are choosing the right healer for you be sure to ask the right questions.

Here are a Few Characteristics of a Trauma-Informed Healer:

• Trauma-informed providers give details about their training and can cite specific qualifications
• They understand the basics of trauma
• They understand the causes of trauma
• These individuals listen thoughtfully and take time to hear your story
• They do not force you to share more than you wish to share
• They practice consent in everything they do
• Trauma-informed providers have a solid ethical code
• They have firm boundaries
• They understand how trauma impacts the mind, body and spirit.

It is also important to trust your intuition during this process. Sometimes, an individual can be qualified and still not be the right fit. The relationship you have with your healer is just as important as the qualifications they possess.

Ask Yourself These Questions When Choosing a Trauma-Informed Healer

• How do I feel when I am around this person?
• Does this person attempt to understand and respect my boundaries?
• Do I trust this person?
• Do I believe this person is competent enough to work with me?
• Does this person respect me and my wishes?
• Am I able to say “no” to this person?

This is not a comprehensive list. However, I want to encourage you to continue asking questions and make sure they are the right fit for you.

It is a privilege to hold space for someone while they work through their trauma and that privilege should not be given freely.

Who Defines What it Means to be Trauma-Informed?

Reputable healers, therapist, doctors and, psychiatrists have created standardized definitions and practices that may be considered trauma- informed. Trauma-informed care is more than a buzzword. It is a set of practices determined by each individual’s professional discipline.

Trauma-Informed Leaders in Mental Health

Bessel Van Der Kolk is a pioneer in the feild of trauma. He wrote the book titled, The Body Keeps the Score, which I highly recommend everyone read.

The idea behind his work and the work of many others is that trauma lives in the body. Somatics is a name for bringing the body into the therapy session. Many people have pioneered the use of somatics in therapy.

Peter Levine is a somatic practitioner who wrote, Waking the Tiger. His book explores how animals encounter trauma yet do not appear to become traumatized. He integrates a variety of methods in his work, including shamanism and yoga.

Trauma-Informed Leaders in Yoga

In the field of trauma-informed yoga, David Emerson is a leading pioneer. He worked with Bessel Van Der Kolk in the International Trauma Center in Boston, MA to study the effects of yoga with traumatized individuals (Van Der Kolk, 2015). He also authored several books on Trauma-Informed Yoga such as, Overcoming Trauma Through Yoga: Reclaiming Your Body.

The History and Future of Trauma-Informed Care

Look back to the years of Freud when women who had experienced horrendous abuse were written off as “hysterical.” It was not that long ago that women might have been diagnosed with hysteria as a result of unrecognized trauma.

Trauma first became recognized when soldiers were returning from the Vietnam war with “shell shock syndrome.” As a result, studies began to diagnose and treat trauma (Van Der Kolk, 2015). Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go before the traumas of all individuals are recognized to have equal merit.

While I certainly do not wish to minimize the very real PTSD that many individuals experience after warfare, I also wish to recognize the impacts of other traumas such as sexual assault, racism, homophobia, domestic violence, and adverse childhood experiences.

I hope to have equipped you with enough information to explore your local resources and find ethical practitioners who know that trauma-informed is more than a buzzword. My deepest hope for you is that this post will give you the tools you need to find someone to help you heal.

About the Author

Olivia Schnur is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) and Registered Yoga Teacher (RYT-200) with a special interest in trauma informed care. She had additional training in Trauma-Sensitive Yoga with Street Yoga in 2017. She is also trained in EMDR, an evidence-based therapy for the treatment of trauma. Click this link to learn more or to book a trauma-informed yoga session with Olivia.

Disclaimer:

This blog post and additional information posted on oliviaschnur.com represent Olivia Schnur’s personal views and should not be treated as professional guidance. The views in this blog post do not represent clinical treatment guidelines or recommendations and should not be treated as medical or mental health guidance. Furthermore, the views expressed on this blog and website do not reflect the views of any professional companies by which Olivia Schnur is employed.

Note to current and former mental health clients: Any contact made via oliviaschnur.com is not considered a confidential means of communication. Furthermore, as a result of ethical and legal requirements, Olivia is unable to respond to current and former clients who attempt to make contact via social media, personal email, or website. Posting comments on blog posts or other web pages can compromise your confidentiality. It is recommended that former or current mental health clients avoid interacting with, commenting on, or making contact via this blog or website.

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Reference

Van Der Kolk, B. (2015) The body keeps the score: Brain, mind and body in the healing of trauma. Penguin Books.

Disclaimer: This blog post is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical or mental health disorders. This post does not represent the clinical opinions of the author and should not be considered a substitute for an evaluation by a medical or mental health practitioner.