Trauma-Informed Practice
Trauma-informed practice realises the prevalence of adverse and traumatic childhood experiences and equips people with knowledge to recognise trauma symptoms and skills to respond with appropriate support.
What is a trauma-informed school?
A trauma-informed school prioritises the establishment of physical and emotional safety, facilitates meaningful connections and develops relationships, whilst helping children to manage difficult emotions.
These schools recognise that behaviour is communication, and that challenging behaviour or disengagement from learning are often rooted in adaptive coping and survival mechanisms.
Instead of thinking “what’s wrong with this child?” a trauma-informed practitioner would consider, “what happened to this child?” and respond accordingly.
Trauma-informed approaches include clear boundaries and communication of expected behaviour, whilst eliminating responses that risk re-traumatisation.
What is a trauma-informed workplace?
A trauma-informed organisation or workplace is one that operates with an understanding of trauma and its negative effects on the organisation's employees and the communities it serves. It involves all components of an organisation’s systems, processes and procedures being reconsidered and evaluated in the light of this understanding, in order to mitigate the effects.
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Becoming a trauma-informed organisation benefits staff, clients and their families by creating safer physical and emotional environments and by sustaining opportunities for choice, power and control through enhanced relational interactions.
Reducing the possibility of re-traumatisation and improving the social environment means that people feel supported, such that wellbeing and job satisfaction is strengthened. Consequently, the number and types of negative encounters and events are reduced and quality of service is improved.
