What Does it Mean to be Trauma-Informed?
SAFETY: When an organization is trauma-informed, creating a sense of safety for ALL (people served, staff, and stakeholders) is ESSENTIAL.
To reiterate, the purpose of this module is to develop a trauma-informed lens and to expand our philosophy to include healing-centered connections. Trauma-informed care involves both honouring and standing up for human rights and social change.
The goals of a trauma-informed approach include:
- Preventing traumatizing events from happening in the first place
- Preventing situations that can retraumatization people who are already dealing with trauma
- Creating new practices that create healing ecologies, and build on people’s already existing strength and resilience
When an organization is trauma-informed it means that all staff and volunteers understand the pervasiveness of trauma, and intentionally create safety for all.
In a post-secondary institution, this includes administrators, professors, teaching assistants, volunteers, service staff, and leadership. Working under the umbrella of peer support/student services means that you must understand what it means to support people with a trauma-informed lens. Being trauma-informed means not only having a trauma-informed approach with those we serve, but also with and among all team members.
When we are trauma-informed, we move away from a worldview that asks, “What’s wrong with you?” to one that instead asks, “What happened to you?”
What are some ideas that a team, such as your peer support team, can do to deal with collective stress, so that you can be present with people? (Examples: open communication, regular meetings, laughter, connection…)