Conversations about trauma are becoming more commonplace in the mainstream media. Today, most people understand that if someone has been through a traumatic event, they might experience lifelong difficulties as a result. Trauma-informed care aims to take into account those challenges and focus on the person’s experiences and how they’ve affected them.
Trauma-informed therapy can be beneficial for individuals who have survived abuse, are living with PTSD or have faced other severe challenges. Keep reading to learn more about this practice and how it promotes improved mental health.
What is Trauma-Informed Care in Mental Health?
Trauma-informed care is tailored to the individual and recognizes how traumatic experiences affect the brain. When someone experiences trauma, it can have a lasting effect on their body and even cause changes to the brain that leave a person in a state of hyper-alertness, even once the danger has passed.
Trauma-informed approaches to care take this issue into account, aiming to treat the person and consider how their life experiences impact their well-being, rather than simply focusing on “what’s wrong with them”.
Core Principles: Safety, Trust, Empowerment, Collaboration
For a trauma-informed therapy approach to work, it must be grounded in four key principles:
- Safety. Survivors must feel safe on both a physical and emotional level.
- Trust. The survivor must feel trust in the process and also be able to trust the therapists they are working with.
- Empowerment. During trauma-informed coaching, therapists help clients feel involved in the decision-making process.
- Collaboration. Any treatment should be a collaborative process with the therapist and survivor working together to improve the survivor’s well-being.
How Trauma-Informed Approaches Differ from Traditional Care
Traditional therapy focuses on treating the symptoms, while trauma-informed care looks at the person and aims to understand why they might be experiencing the issues they are.
One key difference with trauma-informed care is that the therapist operates on the assumption that trauma symptoms are present. This differs from traditional care, where a therapist would wait for the client to discuss trauma themselves. This assumption informs each stage of the process. Therapists approach their sessions in a way that reduces the risk of them feeling “re-traumatized” or encountering triggers.
A trauma-informed therapist will work to make their clients feel safe during their treatment. Therapists take care to understand what a person has been through and to support them. The care team at FHE Health is trained to help people living with PTSD, anxiety, and other mental health challenges understand their feelings and work through the trauma that they’ve experienced.
A trauma-informed approach to therapy helps individuals deal with their distress in the short term and find coping strategies that will enable them to lead a healthy and productive life.
Why Trauma Awareness Matters: Trauma’s Long-Term Impact on the Brain and Behavior
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a common condition that occurs in people who have lived through a traumatic event. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, around 6% of the U.S. population will have PTSD at some point in their lives, and 5% are living with PTSD during any given year.
PTSD is a condition that occurs in all types of people, not just veterans. Accident victims, abuse survivors and those who have witnessed violent crimes may also experience PTSD. Whatever the cause, the impact of PTSD can be severe; survivors may experience symptoms such as:
- Hypervigilance
- Insomnia
- Anxiety
- Irritability
- Depression
- Erratic moods
- Aggressive behavior
The changes trauma causes in the brain can make it hard for a person to return to their normal lifestyle after a traumatic event. They might become withdrawn from society, drop out of their studies or find it hard to hold down a job. It can be difficult for friends or family members to understand the lasting impact the trauma has had on them.
Signs a Provider Is (or Isn’t) Trauma-Informed
If you’re looking for a mental health care provider for yourself or a loved one, it’s a good idea to look for a trauma-informed therapist who will prioritize safety and trust throughout the process.
When choosing a provider, consider the following:
- Individualized care. FHE Health offers a range of treatment options and aims to tailor the care to the individual, taking a trauma-aware approach.
- Putting safety first. A trauma-informed therapist will make sure their clients feel safe throughout the whole process.
- Empowering clients. Traumatic events can leave a person feeling as if they have no agency. A trauma-aware treatment provider will ensure clients feel like they have a choice at each stage of the process.
- Care delivered at your pace. An experienced trauma-aware therapist will encourage people to challenge themselves, without pushing too hard. They’ll give their clients space when they need it, and not push clients to do things they aren’t ready for.
- Supportive language. Rather than pathologizing their clients, trauma-informed therapists take care to focus on the clients’ experiences. They know the people they’re working with aren’t “broken”, but rather they’ve experienced something difficult, and need support to work through it.
Benefits for Clients with Complex or Early-Life Trauma
Trauma-informed care can be beneficial for all kinds of people, not just those who have recently lived through a difficult event. Many individuals who work with trauma-informed therapists have complex trauma or have experienced something in early life, and previous counselors or therapists failed to make the connection between those events and the challenges the person is facing today.
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) can have a lasting impact on a person’s well-being. Recognizing the impact of ACE on mental health is a key part of providing trauma-informed care. For many clients, working with a therapist who recognizes and acknowledges their previous life experiences makes it easier to start a sustainable healing process.
Start Your Recovery Journey Today
If you’re struggling with your mental health, past trauma could be contributing to your difficulties. A trauma-informed approach to mental health care helps people who are struggling with their mental health understand the impact that trauma has had on their bodies.
FHE Health offers an individualized, trauma-focused approach to mental health care. Contact us now to book a confidential consultation with one of our trauma-aware counselors.
