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Trauma-informed care: Key policy developments

6 mins read
Trauma is a widespread, harmful and costly public health problem that occurs as a result of violence, abuse, neglect, loss, war, disaster and other emotionally harmful experiences. It has no boundaries with regard to age, gender, socio-economic status, race, ethnicity, geography or sexual orientation.
Trauma-informed principles have been adopted by schools, the police and social care teams to improve services. Picture: Mulberry Bush
Trauma-informed principles have been adopted by schools, the police and social care teams to improve services. Picture: Mulberry Bush

The effects of traumatic events place a heavy burden on individuals, families and communities and create challenges for support agencies and public services. Although many people who experience a traumatic event in childhood will move on with their lives without lasting effects, others will have more difficulty and experience traumatic stress reactions.

Research has indicated that with the appropriate support and intervention, people can overcome traumatic experiences but unaddressed, trauma significantly increases the risk of mental health and substance misuse problems and chronic diseases.

Emerging definition

Trauma-informed approaches were originally developed to increase engagement in evidence-based, trauma-specific treatments offered through mental health services. However, trauma-informed principles have since been adopted by schools, the police and children’s social care teams to improve service quality more generally. Studies show that practitioners are often enthusiastic about trauma-informed principles and believe that awareness of them will substantially improve their ability to engage clients. However, research also shows that there is a lack of consistency in how trauma-informed principles are applied in practice, and their value to practitioners and clients is largely untested.

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