What is Trauma-Informed Care?

Different authors use this phrase to mean slightly different things. Some authors apply it solely to women or solely to children, while other authors apply it ‘across the board’. Similarly, it is sometimes used to mean addressing trauma specifically (by assessing whether a person has been traumatized and addressing it) and sometimes it is used to describe a service that assumes everyone may have suffered trauma and therefore treats everyone in line with the principles of trauma-informed care.

What are the principles of Trauma-Informed Care (TIC)?

The following is taken from a much-cited book written by Elliott et al and published by Wiley in 2005. Its title is TRAUMA-INFORMED OR TRAUMA-DENIED: PRINCIPLES AND IMPLEMENTATION OF TRAUMA-INFORMED SERVICES FOR WOMEN. It focuses on women but perhaps the principles advocated can apply to working with anyone, regardless of gender or age. Elliott et al state that trauma informed services:

Recognize the Impact of Violence and Victimization on Development and Coping Strategies.
Identify Recovery from Trauma as a Primary Goal.
Employ an Empowerment Model.
Strive to Maximize the person’s Choices and Control Over their Recovery.
Are Based in a Relational Collaboration.
Create an Atmosphere that Respects the need for Safety, Respect, and Acceptance.
Emphasize people’s Strengths, Highlighting Adaptations Over Symptoms and Resilience Over Pathology.
Minimize the Possibilities of Retraumatization.
Strive to Be Culturally Competent and to Understand people in the Context of their Life Experiences and Cultural Background.
Solicit Consumer Input and Involve Consumers in Designing and Evaluating Services.