Understanding Trauma Informed Care, Resiliency, and Your Health-Handout: Understanding Trauma Informed Care, Resiliency, and Your Health

Handout: Understanding Trauma Informed Care, Resiliency, and Your Health

Pdf Summary

This educational activity from the Trauma Center Association of America, presented by Ashley Farrens, MSN, MBA, RN, focuses on understanding trauma-informed care, resiliency, and their impacts on health. Trauma is defined as experiencing or witnessing events that overwhelm coping abilities and have lasting negative effects on functioning. Trauma can arise from diverse situations including violence, accidents, abuse, medical procedures, and natural disasters. The presentation highlights that traumatic stress manifests through psychological and physical symptoms that impair one’s ability to stay present and process emotions.<br /><br />The material underscores common assumptions and biases that healthcare providers might hold toward trauma patients, which can lead to judgment and ineffective care. To counter this, trauma-informed care shifts from asking "What is wrong with you?" to "What has happened to you?" It emphasizes principles such as safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment, encouraging providers to replace judgment with curiosity and understanding.<br /><br />The brain’s response to trauma is explained through the “hand model” of the brain, illustrating how the survival alarm system may remain active, causing fight, flight, or freeze responses. Triggers in medical settings, such as invasive procedures or power dynamics, can retraumatize patients, negatively affecting their engagement with healthcare.<br /><br />Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are discussed, demonstrating their long-term effects on physical and mental health, including increased risks for depression, substance abuse, heart disease, and suicide. Trauma-informed care recognizes the prevalence of trauma and advocates for systemic changes to reduce re-traumatization for patients and staff alike.<br /><br />Resiliency is presented as the capacity to overcome adversity and emerge stronger. The session concludes with a call to adopt trauma-responsive strategies such as self-awareness, recognizing triggers, fostering positive interactions, and sharing knowledge within healthcare environments. This approach aims to improve patient outcomes and staff well-being by integrating trauma-informed principles into clinical practice.

Keywords

Trauma-Informed Care

Resiliency

Traumatic Stress

Healthcare Bias

Patient Empowerment

Brain Hand Model

Fight Flight Freeze

Adverse Childhood Experiences

Trauma Triggers

Trauma-Responsive Strategies