Why do organizations want to become “trauma-informed”?
A majority of people experience at least one traumatic event or toxic stressor during the course of their lives. When adequate resources for healing and resolution of the trauma are not available, many people go on to experience long-term impacts of trauma, including physical, mental, and behavior health problems, learning disabilities, and difficulties establishing supportive social relationships. Without resolution, the impacts of trauma create barriers to engagement for survivors, or lead to difficulty maintaining services and placements.
Staff working with people who have unresolved trauma are at risk for compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress unless they have adequate knowledge and skills for recognizing and responding to trauma-linked reactions and behaviors among the people they serve. High rates of burnout lead to staff turnover and compromised quality of care, slowing and complicating an organization’s ability to grow.
“Trauma-informed care” is an approach that integrates knowledge of the impacts of trauma and skills for supporting resilience across the lifespan into the daily operations of an organization. Trauma-informed care as a model of service delivery can increase the engagement and functioning of service recipients, improve the quality of care delivered, support the health of the workforce, and ensure the sustainable growth of the organization.
How do our consultants help?
We work with diverse organizations in fields including healthcare, social services, and education to implement trauma-informed protocols and practices that can reduce costs, increase staff retention and satisfaction, and improve health and quality of life outcomes for service recipients.
Our consultants will support your organization to conduct a reflective assessment of your services, policies and practices, to identify and prioritize specific goals, and to develop recommendations for moving toward a more trauma-informed model of care. We can also provide technical assistance as you implement processes that will move your organization towards being more trauma-informed.
Areas of focus for consultation can include:
- Trauma-Informed Care Change Team Formation – how to create trauma-informed care implementation teams that have the knowledge, skills and authority to create significant and lasting change
- Communicating for Change – how to start and sustain healthy dialogues with staff, youth, and families about your organization’s commitment to implementing a trauma-informed model of care and related changes to policy and practice
- Organizational Self-Assessments – how to gather information about your organization’s current strengths and needs for growth towards becoming trauma-informed, including the perspectives of staff and consumers
- Trauma-Informed Policy and Procedure Development – how to create policies and procedures that sustainably integrate principles of trauma-informed care into your organization’s daily operations and future growth
- Building Workforce Competency in Trauma-Informed Care – how to create training plans and standards that ensure that staff at all levels of the organization have the knowledge and skills they need to recognize and respond confidently and compassionately to persons experiencing the impacts of trauma or toxic stress
- Supporting Workforce Wellness Practices – how to embed protective factors against the impacts of vicarious trauma, compassion fatigue, and burnout into workplace culture
- Planning for Sustainability – how to create standards and practices that ensure trauma-informed care remains part of your organization’s culture over time
Customized Training
To learn more about our consultation services, or to schedule an initial consultation meeting with us, please contact training@healingattention.org or Elaine Walters at ewalters@healingattention.org.
We can also customize any of our trainings to meet the needs of your specific organization. This can mean focusing on the application of trauma-informed care to a specific professional discipline, service population, or organization type. For example, our trainings have been customized to the needs of residential treatment facilities, early childhood interventionists, and peer-support organizations.
To request a customized training for your organization, click here to fill out our training request form.