The word ‘trauma’ is used a lot these days. Sometimes it is flippantly used (“the length of time I had to wait for my coffee this morning was traumatic”), but the fact that the word is in common circulation at all is a recognition that the things we go through can sometimes leave a mark on us; are not just able to be shrugged off and perhaps do not fade with time – and in some cases, seem to get worse over time.
There’s a very useful quote by trauma specialist Gabor Maté, who says “trauma is not what happens to you, it’s what happens inside you”. As Dr Maté also says, this is a good thing, because that means that it is changeable. You can resolve it. What isn’t changeable are the facts of the thing that occurred, but that matters a whole lot less then how that thing affects you now.
Everyone responds differently to the things that occur in life – little things, and big things. What is ‘traumatic’ to one person isn’t necessarily traumatic to another. This is something we see in practice all the time, and something we have to pay attention to.
A trauma-informed practitioner is someone who recognises that a person’s life history isn’t necessarily going to give clues to what they’re actually experiencing internally. And it’s your experience that we’re interested in.
Being ‘trauma informed’ means making no assumptions about what you should or shouldn’t be feeling according to what’s happened in your life. It means being trustworthy, and honest. It’s about knowing our scope of practice – that is, what we can and cannot help with, and sometimes what we should or should not help with.
The whole aim of being ‘trauma informed’ is to ensure that any help offered does not contribute to the trauma or in some way re-enact harm. Whatever approach is taken, a trauma-informed helping professional will be mindful of your needs, your comfort and your feelings of safety throughout the whole process.
That’s what we aim to create for our clients.