A Non-Trauma Informed Approach

Empowerment and choice. Empowerment means that there is more of a focus on strengths. A non-trauma informed approach looks at deficits and tries to change them. A deficit-based approach is seen in a traditional medical model and autocratic leadership ( Building empowerment and choice with patients. Using a recovery model, including a trauma-informed approach, means identifying what is going well and put energy in that direction. Empowerment engenders resilience, helping those to feel stronger and confident in their ability to control their own life and chose their own path. A trauma-informed approach encourages patients to give feedback. Another example is to have staff specifically ask patients about their unique contributions to their social

Not everyone responds to trauma in the same way. Determinants that predict the likelihood of post-traumatic stress are the age of exposure, how an event is labeled, and if an event is repetitive. For some, the stress response changes the brain’s circuitry, causing an exaggerated or understated reaction to future events. This is the case for the majority of patients entering a psychiatric inpatient program (Bassuk et al., 2017). A high probability exists that the standard practices of psychiatric hospitals and the communications of caregivers can cause reactivation of the trauma response and further deterioration of the current behavioral health symptomatology (Butler et al., 2011). The commonness of trauma likely means that some, if not many, caregivers are also trauma survivors. Knowing that trauma can be a formative experience, organizational leadership has a responsibility to be trauma-sensitive to patients and

One of the cornerstones of TIC is to include former patients at every level, assessment, development, and evaluation, but the literature does not address the issues that arise as a result of this. One issue is how does the organization addresses the stress of longterm staff when a former patient transitions into the staff role. One may think that this is what caregivers want to see, patients who are in recovery leading productive lives. But it is not that simple. Caregivers are urged to have strong professional boundaries with patients, and are not allowed to form personal relationships. Now, the former patient is a colleague. This one example needs further investigation because it can causes significant stress for all