[12 minute read]

You may have heard the language of “trauma-informed care.” Health care services, social work and psychotherapy approaches, and increasingly schools and other organizations are using this language to describe an approach to caring for their clients, students and staff. But what does it actually mean, and why does it matter?

Trauma can affect anyone, at any age, and the impact tends to be invisible or misunderstood. Trauma reactions can be misread as misbehaviour or inappropriate reactivity, or judged as poor life choices. Often people are negatively judged in ways that fail to take into account their personal, relational, or cultural history, in ways that look at people individually without understanding the complexity of the contexts in which they exist and the life circumstances they have had to navigate.

Paying attention to how traumas affect individuals as well as how specific groups of people are uniquely affected by systemic historical trauma and its effects helps us to shift our preconceived notions and adopt a more curious and compassionate perspective.

As Canadians honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30, a trauma-informed lens becomes particularly important as we remember the traumas experienced by the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples of Canada. The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is “a day to honour and remember the children taken from their families, those who never returned home, and the individuals, families and communities still living with the lasting impacts and trauma caused by the residential school system in Canada.”

The invitation of a trauma-informed approach is to go beyond an annual commemoration of this painful history and its ongoing impact to being mindful daily of how trauma may be a factor affecting the lives of Indigenous people we encounter. To do so meaningfully may be to participate in some small way in the reconciliation process.

Trauma-informed approaches can help all of us, regardless of who we are or what we do, better understand each other and respond more thoughtfully to everyone we encounter in our everyday interactions.

Trauma defined

While the word “trauma” is sometimes tossed around casually to describe any kind of distressing event, it may be helpful to clarify what trauma actually is. A UK government website identifies trauma as follows:

“Trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as harmful or life threatening. While unique to the individual, generally the experience of trauma can cause lasting adverse effects, limiting the ability to function and achieve mental, physical, social, emotional or spiritual well-being.”

Knowing trauma is the effect, or impact of one’s experience of an event, rather than the event itself, helps us understand why people may have differing levels of traumatic impact even from seemingly similar experiences. Similar events may have different effects on people depending on their personal history, access to internal and external resources, and many other factors.

Different Types of Trauma

According to VAWnet, there are a number of different types of trauma:

Individual Trauma can occur when something affects us personally that overwhelms our ability to cope or integrate the emotional experiences of the event, for example, a car accident or an assault.

Collective or Community Trauma is the impact of something that affects the culture or functioning of group or community, such as a natural disaster. 

Historical trauma describes the emotional and psychological effects on cultural, racial, ethnic or religious groups of people over lifespans and across generations, experienced directly or indirectly, for example, from mass events such as the colonization of Indigenous peoples, the Holocaust, and the legacy of the African slave trade ongoing systemic racial bias.

Intergenerational trauma refers to the effects of harm that occur within families that are carried over to the next generation of family members.

Insidious trauma refers to the effects of chronic exposure to experiences of oppression that are perhaps less physically threatening, but harm the emotions and spirit. These include regular or ongoing experiences of marginalization and intimidation related to racism, sexism, heterosexism, ageism, the impacts of poverty or other forms of oppression.

Any of these forms of trauma can change how individuals experience and respond to the world, often leaving them with a sense of decreased safety and trust, and with greater levels of vigilance and heighted focus on survival and use of survival strategies in daily life and in interactions with others.

These forms of trauma can layer in ways that make individual experiences more complex and unique. For example, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples will often be experiencing the effects of the collective, historical traumas of colonization, residential schools and the theft of family, culture, religion and identity. These traumas are generally intergenerational in nature. Indigenous folks are often exposed to the insidious trauma of racist treatment and policies, which affect them collectively and may have a different impact on various First Nations communities. First Nations people may often also experience individual trauma related to specific experiences of violence or assaults.

Social work educator and member of the Piqua Shawnee tribe, Andrea Tamburro (2013) reminds us that it is essential to understand the source of what can appear to be dysfunctional behaviour of Indigenous people and families: loss of family, communities and cultures, resulting in a legacy of death, pain and devastation that takes the form of multigenerational trauma and shows up as increased rates of suicide, drug and alcohol addiction, health concerns, infant mortality rates, poverty and violence. This understanding is key to a trauma-informed perspective.

Trauma is a common experience

According to Stats Canada information released in 2024, almost two-thirds (63%) of adults living in Canada reported having been exposed to a potentially traumatic incident in their lives, with 8% of adults reporting having moderate or severe symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the month prior to the survey.

A 2017 World Health Organization (WHO) survey of mental health and trauma in 24 countries assessed for lifetime traumas and PTSD. It found that 70% of respondents experienced traumas in their lives, with an average of just over 3 traumas per person. About 40% of traumas have to do with things that happen to others, for example, the unexpected death of a loved one. Accidents account for almost 24% of trauma exposures, and intimate partner violence (sexual and/or physical) accounts for approximately 25% of trauma exposure. They also documented war-related trauma exposure at just over 7%. Their conclusion: trauma exposure is common across countries around the world.

Despite this, the number of people who develop PTSD is relatively low, ranging from 2% to 19% of trauma survivors, depending on the type of trauma. Traumas involving interpersonal violence are the most likely to result in PTSD. The WHO study found that roughly half the cases of PTSD become less severe or settle within 6 months, however, PTSD can last for years, and the length varies by type of trauma, with PTSD from combat experience in war lasting on average around 13 years, and PTSD from natural disasters averaging about a year. 

PTSD symptoms can affect our functioning in daily life, including our ability to work, interfering with sleep, and affecting relationships. Those who reported experiencing PTSD symptoms were also more likely to report heavier alcohol use and higher use of cannabis, the latter of which was often used for medical purposes. Substances are sometimes used as a coping mechanism or to self-medicate the effects of trauma or stress.

All these statistics suggest that many of the people we interact with in our families, communities, or professionally have experienced stressful and potentially traumatic incidents at some point in their lives, and a number of them may be currently dealing with the symptoms and effects of PTSD.

Many others may be dealing with a range of trauma effects that don’t reach the level of PTSD, but still have a significant impact on their daily lives and interactions with others.

Knowing this can help us be more aware of what those around us might be dealing with even as they try to go about their regular lives.

What is a Trauma-Informed Approach?

A trauma-informed approach is how we respond to others when we understand that the effects of trauma are widespread and that this understanding needs to shape how we view and interact with everyone.

A non-trauma-informed approach tends to view people’s behaviour in a reductionistic way, without considering their history, context or the meaning of their reactions. It leads to judging people negatively when we don’t like or understand their reactions, and blaming people for their issues. It gets us thinking “What’s wrong with you?”

In contrast, a trauma-informed approach helps us be curious about why someone is behaving or reacting in the way they are, and reminds us that there is probably more going on for them than we are aware of. It helps us recognize that they may be dealing with a more complex personal, relational or cultural history, and that they are trying to cope the best they can. It gets us thinking “What happened to you?”

George Couchie, in his video on Cultural Mindfulness, highlights the importance of sharing family and cultural stories as we seek to make sense of historical, collective and intergenerational trauma First Nations people experienced. When we consider the impacts of historical trauma for particular ethnic and cultural groups, we broaden the question to ask  “What happened to you and your ancestors?”

The Importance of being Trauma-Informed

Unless you are a trauma therapist, being trauma-informed doesn’t mean trying to treat or fix the effects of trauma for another person, but instead seeking to better understand others and avoid inadvertently re-traumatizing them, helping us to create a space where everyone can feel safe regardless of their past experiences.

In clinical and health care settings, a trauma-informed care approach helps care-givers recognize that symptoms are often coping strategies that people have developed in reaction to trauma, and tailor treatment accordingly. According to CAMH,“trauma-informed care refers to therapeutic approaches that validate and are tailored to the unique experience of a person coping with PTSD. It understands the symptoms of trauma to be coping strategies that have developed in reaction to a traumatic experience. Non-judgmentally, it recognizes that a person with PTSD may have behavioural, emotional or physical adaptations that have developed in specific response to overwhelming stressors.”

When not trauma-informed, care-givers risk doing harm inadvertently to those who have experienced trauma. Asking someone to repeat the story of their distressing experiences can be re-traumatizing. When someone’s behaviour is interpreted as being out of proportion, inappropriate, or resistant without considering what might have triggered it or contributed to it risks responding with judgement and bias.

You may have heard this approach being discussed in other contexts: people in leadership, teaching, business management, faith communities and many other work and volunteer settings are discussing how to become more trauma-informed. Anyone who works with or interacts with people can benefit from understanding the impact of trauma.

And in our everyday settings, being trauma-informed means recognizing that someone else’s reactions likely make sense if we understand that they are doing their best to cope with life given their history and life experiences, even when we have no idea what that history involves. It allows us to assume the best, rather than the worst of people, and respond with kindness.

It also can help us consider ways we can interact with others in a way that minimizes the risk of adding to another’s stress or re-traumatizing them.

One of the effects of trauma is that it often leaves people feeling less safe than before the trauma. It may lead to their having increased vigilance for any perceived threat. Sometimes people experience triggers, in which something in the present evokes a memory or re-experiencing of the past trauma. Someone who was physically or sexually assaulted, for example, may be very vigilant about personal space and potential threats of reoccurrence, and be triggered by any kind of touch or physical boundary crossing.

Someone who has been regularly mistreated or criticized growing up may be more sensitive to any feedback or correction, even getting triggered into a shame reaction when a problem is raised. Rather than seeing this as a personal flaw or failing, it is helpful to understand this as a normal reaction to what they have experienced in the past, and respond in a way that accounts for this.

Someone who has experienced racialized discrimination may be better able to identify and call out microaggressions that majority race and culture folks don’t recognize. This sensitivity can be welcomed as a gift.

Being trauma-informed doesn’t mean asking about someone’s history; in fact, the hope is that no one would have to disclose having a trauma history unless they wish to because there is sufficient safety, support and empowerment for everyone. 

How to be Trauma-Informed

Here are some practical things each one of us can do to bring a more trauma-informed perspective into our everyday interactions with people, whether at home, at work, or in the grocery store.

1 Consider that anyone you are interacting with may be affected by trauma.
Whether you are working with colleagues, connecting with others at a place of worship, volunteering at a food bank, managing a sports team, or interacting with others in any capacity, the first element of being trauma-informed is to simply remember that the person you are interacting with may have experienced and be affected by trauma.

Simply doing so helps us to suspend judgemental assumptions about their behaviour and reactions in favour of a more curious and compassionate approach. Because we generally can’t know whether or not someone has experienced trauma or what might be triggering to them, it is helpful to practice this all the time.

2 Begin to learn about the common ways trauma affects people.
You don’t need to train to be a social worker or therapist, however, having some general understanding of the ways trauma responses can affect people can be helpful.

Below are links to various resources you can access to learn more about trauma and becoming trauma-informed.

3 Think about how to help others feel more safe
Knowing that one of the key impacts of trauma is that it can disrupt one’s sense of safety, make your space and your interactions with someone as safe as possible, both physically and emotionally.

This means considering whether your casual pat on the back or similar physical contact might be experienced as intrusive or even triggering to another person, and restraining yourself. Asking consent before any kind of touch is appropriate. In general, seek to speak warmly and calmly, be open, approachable, and patient, be a good listener, and be responsive to a person’s feedback or signals of discomfort.

4 Trustworthiness and consistency
Part of safety, being trustworthy implies that you act in ways that allows the other person to trust you. The onus is on the trauma-informed person to demonstrate trustworthiness by saying what they will do before doing something, getting consent, doing what they say they will, and being transparent about how they are acting and decisions that are being made. Clarity about expectations of the roles and interactions can help create safety.

5 Empowering Choice
Trauma often involves a loss of power or agency. When someone experiences additional moments of disempowerment, it can be re-traumatizing. As a result, trauma-informed people or agencies work hard to avoid doing things to others or for others, and instead seek to make space for people to make choices and have a voice in any decision-making.

When possible, interactions would be collaborative, involving working with the other and coming alongside the other person rather than coming from a place of power-over. This involves listening to what the other needs, respecting their autonomy, and supporting them in making decisions and taking action.

6 Understanding Cultural and Historical issues and Gender Experiences
Without stereotyping or prejudice, recognize that someone’s cultural background or gender may have exposed them to added layers of discrimination or harm.

Similarly someone’s culture, community and spiritual practices may provide unique sources of connection and healing from individual, historical, cultural and intergenerational trauma, as George Couchie reminds us.

Post-Traumatic Growth and Resilience

When folks who have experienced effects of trauma have access to support and resources and experienced increased safety and predictability in their daily lives and interactions with others, they are more likely to experience post-traumatic growth and respond with increased resilience.

Being treated in trauma-informed ways at home, in school, in healthcare settings, in faith communities and at work helps reduce the risk of being triggered or re-traumatized, and supports the development of resilience.

As we seek to strengthen our own trauma-informed lenses as individuals and communities, we are contributing to a safer world for everyone.

Susan Winter Fledderus is a Clinical Therapist at Shalem Mental Health Network

Churches resources for becoming trauma-informed:

Peace and Reconciliation Network (Canadian/Global) offers a Trauma-friendly Church Study Guide: https://www.evangelicalfellowship.ca/Resources/Documents/Trauma-friendly-Church-Study-Guide

Trauma Informed Churches (UK) offers Trauma Informed Churches Certificate courses: https://www.traumainformedchurches.org/tic-training

Send Relief (USA) offers a video-based course entitled How to become a trauma-informed church: https://courses.sendrelief.org/courses/how-to-become-a-trauma-informed-church/

Justice Coalition (USA) presents The Six Principles of Trauma-Informed Care: https://justiceco.org/empowered-to-protect-protecting-the-vulnerable-and-resisting-abuse/trauma-informed-church/

Lausanne Movement (Global network) has an article: Caring for People with Trauma in the Church: Understanding, Compassion, and Practical Steps for Faith Communities: https://lausanne.org/about/blog/caring-for-people-with-trauma-in-the-church

Resources for further reading and education: