‘We’re Civil Servants’: The Status of Trauma-Informed Care in the Community

Author/Creator ORCID

Date

2013-12-12

Department

Program

Citation of Original Publication

Molly R. Wolf et al., ‘We’re Civil Servants’: The Status of Trauma-Informed Care in the Community, Journal of Social Service Research Pages 111-120 (2013), https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2013.845131

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This item is likely protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Unless on a Creative Commons license, for uses protected by Copyright Law, contact the copyright holder or the author.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Social Service Research on 12 December 2013, available online: http://x`www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/01488376.2013.845131.

Subjects

Abstract

Trauma-informed care (TIC) in social service organizations means that the organizations operate with the understanding that everyone involved has possibly experienced trauma in their lifetime. This qualitative study examined local service organizations’ usage of the 5 main principles of TIC: safety, trustworthiness, collaboration, empowerment, and choice (as developed by Fallot & Harris, 2006). Ten focus groups (n = 69) and 6 individual interviews (n = 6) with employees from administration through management were interviewed such that almost all facets of each agency were represented. The participants were asked about their agencies’ policies and practices for utilizing the 5 principles of TIC. The results suggest that the vast majority of organizations in this study implemented many of the principles of TIC with clients, though they had not labeled their practices as “trauma-informed.” However, although clients were receiving TIC, some of the principles were neglected as they pertain to staff, such as choice and empowerment. The findings of this study suggest that agencies are unaware of the relevance of TIC as it relates to staff. It is recommended that future research examine whether the use of TIC in agencies prevents “burnout,” high turnover rates, and vicarious traumatization of staff.