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Preventing Trauma
and Its Consequences
A Series Brought to You By The South Southwest PTTC
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In this Issue:
- Trauma-Informed Care Principles and Self-Care for Prevention Professionals
- Additional Resources on Trauma-Informed Care and Self-Care
- What's Happening Around the Region?
- Session Three of the Five-Session Webinar Series on Trauma, May 27, 1:30 CT
- New Online Courses: Ethics in Prevention Foundations: A Guide for Substance Misuse Prevention Practitioners
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Epi Corner: The Impact of History on the Experience of Contemporary Trauma
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Trauma-Informed Care Principles and Self-Care for Prevention Professionals
By Fabricia Prado, LCSW
“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.”
This quote of debatable authorship is some widespread popular advice about the kindness needed in our actions, taking into consideration the hard battles of others. When we translate “hard battle” into experiences of trauma, this means that whatever someone is fighting against is often manifested as “maladaptive” coping patterns. The neurological, physiological, behavioral, and health-wise consequences of trauma are pervasive and can be passed from generation to generation (Felitti et al.,1998).
When communities and individuals impacted by trauma are under preventive or treatment services, they may not feel safe initially and will be interacting with people and systems under the effect of their traumatized brains and bodies. Without recognition that these responses are signs of trauma, they may be mislabeled by providers and systems as resistant to treatment, lacking engagement, guarded, aggressive, or confrontational and be shamed or punished from a trauma-uninformed approach. They can be re-traumatized when attempting to seek help or never establish a trusting and healing relationship with community workers or health providers in general.
Trauma-informed care provides guiding principles to effectively put kindness into action when responding to the psychosocial effects of trauma by creating ways to deliver appropriately sensitive services to those affected by trauma and to nurture their resilience (SAMHSA, 2014). The principles of safety, trust, collaboration, empowerment and choice, as well as cultural, historical and gender issues, applied to communities and organizations in a culturally responsive framework are prescribed to create environments and relationships aimed at facilitating engagement, creating a sense of personal control and respect. Equally important is that organizations and systems that are trauma-informed will also proactively develop the workforce, implement training, wellness incentives and supporting supervision to protect their staff, students, interns, and peer support from burnout and secondary traumatic stress (Menschner & Maul, 2016).
While rewarding, the work of prevention professionals can potentially include exposure to narratives or direct experiences with individuals and groups with complex histories of abuse, violence and systemic oppression. Prevention professionals need to be aware of their own individual vulnerabilities, triggers, risks and exposure to secondary traumatic stress and be committed to maintaining their own wellness.
Self-care practices remind us to take care of the fundamental tool for the work we do: ourselves. Engaging in self-care practices is an opportunity to role-model the self-respect, healthy boundaries, and social-emotional skills we are trying to teach the people and communities we serve. Moreover, this can be an ethical obligation, as stated in regulatory boards, to prevent the professional impairment that will harm others. A variety of strategies for self-care can be used to encompass the domains of awareness, balance, physical health, social support, and spirituality. (Posluns & Gall, 2019).
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Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V., Koss, M. P., & Marks, J. S. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245–258. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0749-3797(98)00017-8
Huckshorn, K., & LeBel, J. L. (2013). Trauma-informed care. In K. R. Yeager, D. L. Cutler, D. Svendsen, & G. M. Sills (Eds.), Modern community mental health: An interdisciplinary approach (p. 62–83). Oxford University Press.
Menschner, C. & Maul, A. (2016). Key Ingredients for Successful Trauma-Informed Care Implementation, Advanced
Posluns, K., & Gall, T. L. (2019). Dear mental health practitioners, take care of yourselves: A literature review on self-care. International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10447-019-09382-w
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014.
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About the Author
Fabricia Prado is the presenter for the third session of the “Preventing Trauma and Its Consequences” series on Thursday, May 27. Ms. Prado is a trilingual (Portuguese/Spanish/English) licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the state of Georgia. She is a certified Child and Adolescent Trauma Professional (CATP) and has received intensive training in trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
(EMDR), Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, and other trauma sensitive approaches.
Fabricia has obtained certification as an ACE Interface master trainer through the National Hispanic and Latino PTTC and is working to increase community awareness of the prevalence of ACEs and its public health impact utilizing evidence-based approaches for building resiliency in Hispanic and Latino organizations and communities.
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Additional Resources on Trauma-Informed Care and Self-Care |
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What is Trauma-Informed Care?
Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Resource Center
This site is a great resource for learning the basics about trauma-informed care and the benefits to implementing the principles at a clinical and organizational level. Basic steps are provided for immediate consideration.
Secondary Traumatic Stress
The National Traumatic Child Stress Network (NTCSN)
Individual and supervisory awareness of the effects of indirect trauma exposure is a basic part of protecting the health of professionals working in the community and ensuring that others consistently receive the best possible care from someone committed to helping them.
Culture and Trauma
The National Traumatic Child Stress Network
Trauma-informed systems acknowledge the compounding impact of structural inequity and are responsive to the unique needs of diverse communities. Many resources exist across this site that address the intersection between culture and trauma.
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HHS Office of Minority Health - Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Shareable social media images available for your coalition.
Read more
www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov
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Self-Care Starter Kit℠
Welcome to the UB School of Social Work's Self-Care site. The resources in these pages are appropriate for both students in training and for professionals already working in the field. There are additional resources that we trust will be helpful...
Read more
socialwork.buffalo.edu
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Trauma-Informed Care for Unaccompanied Immigrant Youth: Alliance for Inclusion and Prevention
Susan Lovett, LCSW and Dorys Lemus, former unaccompanied child, from the Alliance for Inclusion and Prevention (AIP) in Boston, Massachusetts, shares her experiences and lessons learned from implementing a school-based trauma treatment program and highlights the role of a cultural liaison in working with youth who have experienced migration-related trauma.
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The South Southwest PTTC is currently suspending in-person training and meetings until further notice. Take advantage of our many virtual products and services available for free from our website.
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Save the Dates for Other Sessions in the Series
Preventing Trauma and Its Consequences: Practical Steps for the Prevention Professional
A South Southwest Prevention Technology Transfer Center Webinar Series
Please join us in this webinar series as we come together to share the good news about the role of prevention in addressing ACEs and other trauma. Together we'll learn the practical steps to preventing trauma and its consequences in your community.
Session 4: June 24
Session 5: July 22
Each webinar will begin at 1:30 p.m. CT and run for 90 minutes. Please join our email list or follow us on Twitter @SSWPTTC6 to receive notifications about specific topics and registration details as they become available.
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Prevention Online Courses
Free online courses are available through the Prevention Technology Transfer Center.
If you are new to prevention, be sure to take the course, "Introduction to Substance Abuse Prevention: Understanding the Basics (Pre-SAPST)" and the new "Ethics in Prevention Foundations: A Guide for Substance Misuse Prevention Practitioners."
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Upcoming Prevention Conferences
June 2 - 4, 2021
Society for Prevention Research Annual Meeting
Theme: Addressing Racism and Disparities when Considering Biology and Context.
August 24 - 26, 2021
National Prevention Network Conference
Theme: Resilience in Prevention: Opportunities to Adapt and Build for a Stronger Tomorrow
September 16 - 17, 2021
2021 National Hispanic Latino Behavioral Health Virtual Conference
Theme: Envision Latino Behavioral Health Equity in the Next Decade
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Epi Corner
Iris Smith, Ph.D., M.P.H.
South Southwest Prevention Technology Transfer Center
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The Impact of History on the Experience of Contemporary Trauma
Historical trauma is defined as multigenerational trauma experienced by a specific cultural, racial or ethnic group that is related to major events or group experiences of oppression and discrimination in the past. Research over the last several decades has examined how these historic factors combined with ongoing systemic oppression and racism in the present, can result in adverse health outcomes for individuals.1 However, much of the intervention literature is focused on individual family level risk factors that do not take the larger societal/historical context into account.2
It is equally important to understand historical group resilience and the cultural factors that enabled survival. Lauricellar et al. (2016) advocate for a more inclusive approach to intervention that acknowledges the trauma, but also celebrates cultural resilience in order to promote healing and inspire hope for a better future. The events of the past year have been traumatic for most of the country- a pandemic, natural disasters, social unrest, mass shootings to name a few. Each of these events creates a new “history” that will likely have a lasting impact on children, youth, and young adults. Increased attention to evidence-based cultural adaptations and culturally grounded interventions that incorporate specific aspects of group history and culture may be especially important for the future.
Resources
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Behavioral Health Services for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series 61. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 18- 5070EXSUMM. Rockville, MD: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2018. This publication may be ordered or downloaded from SAMHSA’s Publications Ordering Webpage at https://store.samhsa.gov)
Articles of Interest
Cerdena JP, Rivera LM, Spak JM (2021). Intergenerational Trauma in Lantinxs: A Scoping Review. Social Science & Medicine 270, pg. 113662.
Heard-Garris NJ, Cale M, Camaj L, Hamati MC, Dominguez TP (2018). Transmitting Trauma: A Systematic Review of Vicarious Racism and Child Health. Social Science & Medicine 199, pg. 230-240.
Kelley A, Witzel M & Fatupaito B (2019). A Review of Tribal Best Practices in Substance Abuse Prevention, Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse, 18:3, 462-475, DOI: 10.1080/15332640.2017.1378952.
Kelley S, Jeremie-Brink G, Chambers AL, Smith-Bynum MA (2020). The Black Lives Matter Movement: A Call to Action for Couple and Family Therapists. Family Process 59 (4), pg.1374-1388.
Lauricella M, Valdez JK, Okamoto SK, Helm S, Zaremba C (2016). Culturally Grounded Prevention for Minority Youth Populations: A Systematic Review of the Literature. Journal of Primary Prevention 37; pg. 11-32.
Ortega-Williams A, Beltran R, Schultz K, Henderson ZR, Colon L, Teyra C (2021). An Integrated Historical Trauma and Posttraumatic Growth Framework: A Cross-Cultural Exploration. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 22(2), pg. 220-240
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1Ortega-Williams A, Beltran R, Schultz K, Henderson ZR, Colon L, Teyra C (2021). An Integrated Historical Trauma and Posttraumatic Growth Framework: A Cross-Cultural Exploration. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 22(2), pg. 220-240
2Cerdena JP, Rivera LM, Spak JM (2021). Intergenerational Trauma in Lantinxs: A Scoping Review. Social Science & Medicine 270, pg. 113662.
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