Trauma informed practice is a term that describes how healthcare practitioners gain the trust of someone who has experienced trauma in order to support them in accessing the care and treatment they need.
What is trauma?
The term “trauma” describes the long-term physical effects of suffering through a distressing event. Trauma can manifest itself in a variety of ways including PTSD, exhaustion, sadness and dissociation.
Principles of trauma informed practice
Trauma informed practice follows six guiding principles. These are to make a patient feel safe, to help them trust the process and personnel involved in their care, to collaborate with and empower them and to be mindful of cultural considerations.
Many healthcare professionals find trauma informed practice training such as that delivered by www.tidaltraining.co.uk/mental-health-training-courses/trauma-informed-practice-training/ to be instrumental in supporting patients with complex trauma needs.
Bespoke training packages help healthcare professionals to recognise trauma and to understand how to vary their approach, responding sensitively to each individual’s specific needs. To be effective, trauma informed practice must be adopted by an organisation and incorporated into its policies, procedures and guidelines and it is imperative that this is done in a coherent manner to maximise the likelihood of a successful implementation.
Pivoting to trauma informed practice
Embedding the trauma informed philosophy requires organisational commitment from the very highest levels of leadership while following the “4 Rs” Framework of realise, recognise, respond and resist re-traumatisation, organisations can embed the philosophy, actively support members of the community and continually learn from their experiences to meet the needs of their patients.
