The goal of holistic healthcare is to take into account all aspects of an individual’s well-being and history. This includes any past experiences of trauma, which has the potential to impact every aspect of our lives, including our health, well-being, and behavior. Trauma can also affect our interactions with healthcare systems and providers and our ability to heal and respond to treatment (whether physical or psychological).
What Is Trauma-Informed Care?
In light of this, many healthcare organizations are adopting trauma-informed practices. In essence, a trauma-informed approach seeks to acknowledge the effects of trauma in a person’s life and to provide supportive care that both makes people feel safe and avoids re-traumatization. Trauma-informed care is founded on five guiding principle
safety
choice
collaboration
trustworthiness
empowerment
Who Benefits From Trauma-Informed Care?
Trauma-informed care isn’t just for survivors of abuse or rape, although it’s certainly appropriate in those situations. As a general rule, experts agree that it’s safe to assume that nearly everyone has experienced trauma of some kind, and to treat people accordingly.
Trauma-informed care isn’t just for survivors of abuse or rape, although it’s certainly appropriate in those situations. As a general rule, experts agree that it’s safe to assume that nearly everyone has experienced trauma of some kind, and to treat people accordingly.
Trauma-Informed Care in Practice
Trauma-informed care looks different for everyone and every situation. In some cases, it may be as simple as explaining to a person why certain procedures or sensitive questions are necessary. Other examples of trauma-informed care might include allowing an anxious person to have a friend or partner in the room during an exam for support, asking consent before beginning a procedure, or responding with compassion if a person expresses resistance or hesitation to treatment.
RADIAS Health provides person-centered integrated healthcare services to people experiencing mental illness, substance use, or co-occurring disorders. Compassionate, skilled health care and support staff deliver our behavioral health services. In addition, our care includes supplementary services such as case management, supportive housing, homeless services, residential services, outpatient DBT treatment, and more. If you or someone you know could benefit from our mission, contact us today or consider donating!