Trauma Informed Care

[00:00:00] Rhonda: Ha, I hope all is well, it’s Rhonda with Kentucky SPIN. And we wanted to talk today a little bit about trauma informed care. Trauma informed care is an approach that looks through a lens that when you are working with someone, whether it be a child, a youth, or an adult, is through a lens that there could possibly have been trauma that they have experienced.

One of the things that we’d like to kind of talk about is how we do that.  And really making sure that we are always thinking of that when we approach the work that we do. And not only the work that we do, the more I see we need to approach that in our everyday life, in our interactions with others, I think it will help a great deal.

And one thing too that’s important about it, is it’s not about you actually knowing what trauma that they have went through. Because [00:01:00] unless they share that with you, that is not really your business. But it’s from an approach that different people may act or have different things that have affected them, different traumas and why that they do the things that they do, or they act the way that they do.

So when we’re approaching it from that lens, we’re actually taken into account different things that could help. And really to me, you know, when you look through it, through that compassionate lens, we all have different things that we have experienced. I think that we will find that our work becomes not only more meaningful for us, but also more valuable in the interactions that we have with one another.

Now, one of the things too, I can give you a great example right now that everyone can relate to. And again, when I bring this up, this is [00:02:00] non-judgment of anyone, but is about the wearing the mask. Well, there may be some people, and it is recommended, that are not able to. We know certain people who may have medical conditions. But you don’t know, who isn’t wearing that, that might’ve had trauma in their life, that it is very traumatic for them to wear that mask because they may have had in the trauma they experienced, their mouth and their nose covered. So every time that they go to put on that mask, they are reliving that and the terror and the panic.

And again, let me be very clear is, trauma informed care is not to feel sorry for anyone because anyone who has lived through different trauma, that is the last thing that they need. But when we approach it through that trauma informed compassionate lens, we are better able to help one another and we’re actually going to succeed much greater.

So if we keep those things in mind. [00:03:00] So when you see someone, not only, for professionals, this is very important for parents and youth because you don’t know when you’re advocating for your child, you don’t know the trauma that the people that you’re working with have encountered in their life. Again, it’s not to know the trauma unless they trust you and they feel that they could share that with you.

It is about approaching from, we all have different experiences that play a part and have formed us. And while we do what we do and how we approach things. So one last thing that I’d like to share too, is that no matter, it is not for us to decide what is traumatic or not. If to them it is traumatic.

It was a traumatic experience. So it’s not for us to judge, or to determine what is traumatic [00:04:00] or not. Again, it is to approach it from that lens of how do we keep these things in mind and work with one another so that we are being respectful and honoring the different experiences. And, helping one another better because in the end, that’s what really matters.

And I hope that this has helped and we will have different webinars on, a webinar on trauma informed care. We would love for you all to join us. Thanks so much and take care now.