Outline on Trauma-informed Care
Outline on Trauma-informed Care
Tenets for Creating Trauma-informed Communities on a Grassroots Level
Oct 21, 2025
The following is an outline with recommendations for trauma-informed practice. This includes the principles of trauma-informed care and implications for taking action on community levels. Most of these reflections are credited in documentation from SAMHSA and the National Traumatic Stress Network.
4-Rs
Realize:Widespread impact of trauma
Recognize:signs and symptoms of trauma in clients
Respond:by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices.
Seek to activelyResistre-traumatization
SAMHSA Key Principles of a Trauma Approach
Principles that guide a trauma informed change process
Developed by national experts, including trauma survivors
Goal-Establish a common language/framework
Values-based
Not a checklist, but awayof being
6 Tenets of Trauma-informed Care
1. Safety: Create a welcoming environment that is consistent and predictable. The environment should cultivate a sense of non-shaming or blaming, respect of privacy, and provide a clear explanations of what is happening and why.
2. Trustworthiness and Transparency: The goal is to be authentic and build trust in an organization and understand their opportunities. Families can meet at one location (a family justice center) and speak with a navigator to better move through the process where they tell their story once. Trust can be maintained when all community organizations have a clear vision of supporting families in the process of receiving trauma-informed care.
3. Peer Support: A flexible approach to building mutual relationships among equals. Individuals are work on a voluntary basis, and often times the relationships are non-judgmental, and reciprocal.
4. Collaboration: Partnering and leveling power differences between staff and clients can demonstrate that healing happens in relationships and the sharing of power and decision-making.
5. Empowerment, Voice and Choice:The organization fosters a belief in resilience.The organization inspires strengths and experiences that are recognized and built upon having a voice and choices that are validated while new skills are developed.
TIC Organizational Leadership Practice Principles
1. Their problem is your problem
2. Have empathy
3. Do for others ask nothing in return
6. Consider the impact of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives: This work treats all people equally and as equally valuable regardless of their role at the agency or cultural background.
7. Focused on whole person understanding
8. Infused with knowledge about the roles that have historically caused harm
9. Designed to minimize the possibilities of victimization and re-victimization
TIC Community Governance Models
1-Establish Leadership
2-Policy Implementation
3-Physical Environment
4-Engagement and involvement with similar agencies who work with individuals as community partners can also be involved.
Handle with Care:
Provide the school leadership a “heads-up” when a child has been at the scene of a traumatic event involving law enforcement.
1. Response efforts should include screening and assessment
2. There should be a training plan so the workforce has knowledge of interventions
3. Establish evaluation tools and progress monitoring: Does the agency solicit feedback from both staff and individuals?
4. What processes are in place to solicit feedback from people who use services that ensure anonymity?
Local Takeaways for Consideration:
Start with education and awareness campaigns
Set up training plans and staff development:
Establish additional trauma tool kit training for staff and stakeholders
Ongoing workgroups can overtime lead to effective policy change
