TRAUMA INFORMED CARE by Toni-Lee Danso

 As we wrap up this year and slowly turn the corner into the year of 2025, we could only hope for an increase in awareness of trauma, mental health, and social determinants. This would create a far more inclusive and better trauma-informed society because it really does start here. 

When people speak of TRAUMA INFORMED CARE, they do not mean to just “know” what has happened to a person or occurred in their life and leave it at that. But rather means to be aware of the repercussions and outcomes of such occurrences, as well as their social, mental and criminal impact so to better be able to care for particular individuals. We have learned about the SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF CRIME in my previous article (if you haven’t, please scroll and have a read :) ) but these have a lot in common with the concept of trauma informed care. These particular determinants are variables in the equation of trauma informed care and should always be considered when assessing and treating individuals who HAVE past trauma. 

For example, you may encounter a person whether they be a friend, colleague, family member or for sake of this story - a client, who experienced domestic violence in their relationships or in their homes growing up. As a result of this, they ended up in foster care where they were also abused and taken advantage of by the many different foster parents. They may express to you that they are not comfortable in communal living arrangements or group homes where they are in close proximity to other people in a private setting.

As the client’s case manager who also serves as a support person for them, your demonstration of compliance with Trauma Informed Care would be assisting them in finding self contained units of housing. By doing this, you are not only listening to the client and implementing the “nothing about about us, without us” model… but you are also ACKNOWLEDGING the trauma which they have shared and realizing that placing THIS PARTICULAR individual in an uncomfortable situation for them as that of a group home or communal living space, that you may be doing more harm than good as particular triggers may result because of their past experience in other intimate environments. 

A similar example would be if you had a client who was criminalized for any reason related to their usage of substances and has now rehabilitated and expressed that they want to remain sober. They also explain to you that they have lived a precarious lifestyle in the past which lead them to being abused and extorted as well as have traumatic experiences which were the cause of drugs and substances and cost them their family and job. They explain that they are someone who has had multiple relapses due to being around other drug users and due to limited housing options, continues to turn to the shelters where drug use is plentiful or to friends who happen to still be using substances. 

Your demonstration of trauma informed care would be your efforts to find a sober environment or community where you could respect the clients decision of abstinence and support their journey by incorporating additional rehabilitative resources into their case plan. You may also want to tailor their case plan to include trauma therapy due to the emotional toll that their experiences may have had on them to ensure that they don’t turn to substances again as an outlet. Understanding that your client has experienced many traumatic events DUE to their relationship with drugs is very important as this would be recognized as their social determinant of crime. The least aware action that you could possibly take would be to refer to a shelter or even a Harm Reduction Program where there will be unlimited access to substances, especially considering that they have informed you about their past issues with relapsing. 

Keeping in mind that this is the Client’s choice and what they asked for… which is rehabilitation and sobriety. Had it been another person who expressed that they would like a harm reduction approach to rehabilitation, that would be a different story. It’s all about making informed decisions and acknowledging the past trauma that they have endured while identifying the common denominator- substance abuse. 

Being trauma informed also becomes useful when defending or writing Character Reports for criminalized individuals who stand before the courts. Knowing the relationship between particular (not all) traumas and crimes is very important, especially when it becomes a mitigating factor. Understanding that individuals may turn to crime due to particular social determinants and other trauma they have experienced is always a good argument against the courts stating that a person is “just a criminal”. 

In my opinion, trauma informed care is also being able to admit that NOT all occurrences are a result of past traumas-whether or not they were present. So basically, using trauma as an excuse for actions is not the goal of this model and sometimes we need to admit that people just do bad things. By doing this, we can better distinguish between “actual” criminal behaviour and trauma response. 

All in all, Trauma Informed Care begins with awareness and ends with support. All while understanding that each person’s needs are different and particular to their own individual circumstances.