What Is Trauma Informed Care?

The word “trauma” is a part of our everyday language. Initially, this shift seems to be good news

for those of us who work to end the stigma about mental health issues that emerge when people

are mistreated as children. However, the prevalence of trauma in our world continues to be

denied. We only have to look at our news feed and see the high rate of school shootings in the

U.S., ongoing domestic violence that appears to go unchecked, deaths by overdose and suicide,

and our insensitivity to the plight of refugees, and other aspects of human suffering to recognize

that we have much more work to do. The trauma-informed changes in psychotherapy and

meditation spaces are hopeful indicators that we can support trauma survivors with innovative,

integrated strategies that enhance healing and post-traumatic growth.

In psychotherapy, we have learned that the orientation of our questions needed to change from

“What is wrong with you” to “What happened to you”. Trauma-informed care and trauma-

sensitive approaches are an effort to care for our clients who have experienced trauma that

acknowledge that childhood trauma is commonplace. Our old methodology in mental health

needed to change so that our spaces create the potential for emotional and physical safety. So

today, we offer choice in our interactions with the people we serve. Our stance is collaborative;

we work to understand and witness our clients’ experiences. The selection may be as simple as

offering varied seating in our spaces and practicing emotional and physical boundaries that

respect our clients varying needs. We integrate movement, writing, poetry, and other creative

processes into our work. The integration of these tools enhances healing and post-traumatic

growth. Trauma-sensitive mindfulness and hypnotherapy can be specifically tailored to our

clients to improve their ability to access the benefits of mindfulness and meditation.

Hypnotherapy is a tool well-suited for trauma survivors. Most trauma survivors had to use their

imagination to survive. Their ability to heal is enhanced when they learn to use this aspect of

their experience in a targeted way. The result is a newfound ability to approach life with

resilience and optimism. If you are curious about how these approaches can help you, feel free to

reach out with questions.