Transcript Trauma-Informed Organizational Self

TRAUMA-INFORMED MILIEU
Phoebe Soares, MSW.
Joseph Spinazzola, Ph.D.
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GOALS
• To provide agencies with practical ideas about
how to create trauma-informed environments
• To help agencies increase their ability to create
an atmosphere that supports women and
children of all cultures who have been impacted
by trauma.
• To encourage agencies to develop traumainformed programs and policies so that women
and children find more places to heal.
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Trauma-Informed Services
• Trauma-informed services assume that people
are doing the best they can at any given time to
cope with the life-altering and frequently
shattering effects of trauma.
• In trauma-informed services and systems all
staff members--from grounds-keepers, to
maintenance staff to administrators--are trained
to respond to individuals in distress.
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Operating Principles of TraumaInformed Services
• The impact of trauma is total, narrowing women’s lives, constricting
choices, undermining self-esteem, taking away control, and creating
a sense of hopelessness and helplessness.
• Many behavioral “problems” women present with are adaptive
responses to trauma.
• Cultural context influences the perception and response to traumatic
events and cultural context informs the recovery process.
• Building respectful, nonjudgmental relationships in which the power
differential between staff and client are equalized and at the same
time maintaining appropriate boundaries is critical for facilitating
recovery.
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Transforming the Milieu
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Establishing buy-In from all levels of the organization, with a point-person
who has authority to make changes.
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Conducting a needs assessment of the organization.
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Identifying focal challenge in order to provide specific training and
consultation that meet the needs of the organization in transforming the
system to become trauma-informed.
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Focus is on implementing evidence-based practice that meets the unique
needs of the program and can be sustainable within the program.
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Intensive consultation
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Evaluation of the process.
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