Trauma-informed care

Trauma-informed care (TIC) or Trauma-and violence-informed care (TVIC), is a framework for relating to and helping people who have experienced negative consequences after exposure to dangerous experiences.[1][2] There is no one single TIC framework, or model, and some go by slightly different names, including Trauma- and violence-Informed Care (TVIC). They incorporate a number of perspectives, principles and skills. TIC frameworks can be applied in many contexts including medicine, mental health, law, education, architecture, addiction, gender, culture, and interpersonal relationships. They can be applied by individuals and organizations.

TIC principles emphasize the need to understand the scope of what constitutes danger and how resulting trauma impacts human health, thoughts, feelings, behaviors, communications, and relationships. People who have been exposed to life-altering danger need safety, choice, and support in healing relationships. Client-centered and capacity-building approaches are emphasized. Most frameworks incorporate a biopsychosocial perspective, attending to the integrated effects on biology (body and brain), psychology (mind), and sociology (relationship).[3]

A basic view of trauma-informed care (TIC) involves developing a holistic appreciation of the potential effects of trauma with the goal of expanding the care-provider's empathy while creating a feeling of safety. Under this view, it is often stated that a trauma-informed approach asks not "What is wrong with you?" but rather "What happened to you?" A more expansive view includes developing an understanding of danger-response.[1] In this view, danger is understood to be broad, include relationship dangers, and can be subjectively experienced. Danger exposure is understood to impact someone's past and present adaptive responses and information processing patterns.[4]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Perry_2021 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Perry, Bruce; Winfrey, Oprah (2021). What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing. Flatiron Books. ISBN 978-1250223180.
  3. ^ Huang, Larke N.; Flatow, Rebecca; Biggs, Tenly; Afayee, Sara; Smith, Kelley; Clark, Thomas; Blake, Mary (2014). "SAMHSA's Concept of Truama and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach" (PDF). Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
  4. ^ Crittenden, Patricia McKinsey (2016). Raising Parents: Attachment, representation, and treatment (2nd ed.). London and New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-0415-50830-8. OCLC 1052105272.