As our world continues to navigate a global pandemic, sociopolitical, cultural, and racial reckonings, and revolutions, as well as innumerable accounts of individual and collective trauma and loss over this past year, we are in need of healing and reconciliation efforts that can account for these multidimensional, longstanding, and widespread wounds. Traumas that are both vast in scope and impact, and deeply personal in nature. The term “trauma-informed” or “trauma-sensitive” is often used to describe a policy, practice, or institution that “understands” trauma and works hard not to “mirror” trauma in its delivery. But what does that actually mean? What does it look like, or more importantly feel like - on both the administration of said policy or practice, but also on the receiving end? How does this “buzz word” translate into policies and practices that affect change, and transform healing potential to support resiliency and dignity in the individuals and communities that we serve? “Trauma-Informed Care understands and considers the pervasive nature of trauma and promotes environments of healing and recovery rather than practices and services that may inadvertently re-traumatize”.* But what encompasses a healing environment?
We are introducing this column as a way to provide a platform for ongoing discussion and interaction with our readership. We would like this feature to be a living, breathing, and evolving contribution shared by all. A place where we can ask hard questions and lean into uncertainty with compassion, curiosity, and respect. Together, could we aim to create a framework where power-sharing is centered, and “trauma-sensitivity” is not only informing our work but also embodying it? Could we “live out” trauma sensitivity together through this collaborative exchange? We welcome your thoughts, feedback, questions, and comments and aim to invite your engagement with this material in a way that is collaborative, culturally sensitive, and open to change.
We would like this feature, this column, and our journal as a whole, to feel safe. As we open doors to facilitate awareness, prevention, and healing, we invite you, our readers, into an exchange where power is shared.
At the core of any “safe/healing” space
Here are some questions to consider when aiming to provide a safe/healing “trauma-informed” experience:
We, at Voices Against Torture, believe that being “trauma-informed,” in any capacity, enables a range of lived experiences and expressions of trauma to be met not only with compassion but also with the aim of giving power back to individuals and communities who have been repeatedly denied agency, dignity, and empowerment. We believe that healing approaches and modalities must address, unveil, and uproot systemic paradigms that have kept marginalized groups of people in the frontline experiences of trauma and oppression. The circuitous power-hoarding patterns of individual and group behavior, as well as institutional policies and practices, need to be interrupted. We are committed to engaging in this imperative dialogue among our growing team of interdisciplinary advisors and contributors, from diverse cultures and backgrounds but most importantly, with you, our readers and the individuals, groups, and communities that we serve.
We welcome your thoughts and look forward to furthering this collaborative dialogue, where we may each enter at different points and at different times - with a range of lived experiences, both personal and professional. A “separate togetherness” that honors our unique perspectives, as well as our shared humanity.
*University at Buffalo Center for Social Research or relationship, this tenant must be central.