After experiencing trauma, people may suffer from the effects of those events for the rest of their lives. Trauma experiences can lead to a range of behavioral health issues, including anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. Fortunately, behavioral health treatment programs are available to help people in need. With the right treatment, people can recover from their behavioral health challenges – even while dealing with the effects of trauma.
Often, the right treatment program for people with a history of trauma includes a trauma-informed care approach. When clinicians practice trauma-informed care, they consider the potential effects of trauma on each patient and work to avoid triggering memories of that trauma during treatment. In the article, we discuss the need for trauma-informed care and how clinicians incorporate trauma-informed care methods into treatment programs.
The need for trauma-informed care in behavioral health treatment
Trauma-informed care is important because a patient may have to stop their behavioral health treatment program prematurely without it. Unfortunately, for some patients, aspects of treatment may remind them of past traumatic experiences. When the patient recalls past trauma, he may become anxious or stressed and be unable to focus on the treatment program at hand. For that reason, clinicians need to be mindful of the lasting impact that trauma can have on their patients.
In most cases, clinicians assume that every patient has a history of trauma. This assumption is best-practice because asking a person directly if they have a history of trauma may cause the person to revisit those painful memories. As described, recalling trauma events and associating those memories with treatment may cause patients to forgo treatment altogether.
It is also best-practice for clinicians to assume patients have a history of trauma because experiencing trauma is, unfortunately, very common. The CDC’s findings on the prevalence of trauma include the following findings:
- Approximately one in four children experiences abuse-based trauma. This trauma can be physical, sexual, or emotional abuse.
- Approximately one in four women experiences trauma via domestic violence.
- Approximately one in five women experiences trauma from rape.
- Approximately one in 71 men experience trauma from rape.
People can experience trauma in various ways, and some trauma experiences can intertwine with culture. For example, a person’s trauma may, in part, come from racial injustices or historical traumas. Additionally, a person’s trauma may have to do with disparities in access to mental health care that occur along cultural and racial lines. Therefore, clinicians who practice trauma-based care work to maintain cultural competence and cultural awareness.
Experiencing trauma is common. Because trauma is so common and asking about a patient’s traumatic experiences can trigger memories of the trauma, clinicians who adhere to trauma-informed care practices simply treat all patients as if they have a history of trauma.
Ways to implement trauma-informed care in behavioral health treatment
Behavioral health facilities that implement trauma-informed care best practices adhere to a common set of “Five Guiding Principles.” Each principle helps guide clinicians on how to build a healthy environment and professional patient-clinician relationships. The five principles of trauma-informed care include:
- Safety – Making sure that each patient feels safe is the first principle of trauma-informed care. When a person has a history of trauma, feeling physically and emotionally safe is often a prerequisite to making progress towards recovery. Behavioral health facilities implement this principle by respecting privacy and ensuring that patients and their families feel welcome.
- Choice – In many cases, trauma comes with a lack of choice and a denial of agency. When people do not have choices or feel like they are not in control, such an experience may trigger memories of their traumatic episodes. Accordingly, clinicians implementing trauma-informed care practices must ensure that each patient knows they have a choice to undergo treatment or not. Clinicians can highlight choice by clearly communicating each patient’s rights and options.
- Collaboration – Related to the principle of choice, collaboration is another guiding principle of trauma-informed care. To prevent instances of retraumatization, it is vital that patients view treatment as a joint effort between themselves and their healthcare providers. Clinicians who practice trauma-informed care can foster collaboration by including each patient in the decision-making process. By collaborating on each decision, patients and clinicians can work together instead of potentially creating a patient-clinician power imbalance.
- Trustworthiness – The fourth principle of the trauma-informed approach is trustworthiness, and there is a variety of easy that patients and clinicians can build a trustworthy relationship. First, it is important that the patient and clinician define the roles and tasks for each person. Second, both the patient and the clinician must respect those roles and adhere to clear interpersonal boundaries.
- Empowerment – Lastly, the fifth principle of trauma-informed care is empowerment. Rather than seeing each patient as a person who passively receives treatment, clinicians who practice trauma-informed care encourage patients to take ownership of recovery and build on their strengths. By having patients build on their strengths, patients can feel affirmed and empowered to address their behavioral health challenges.
The Family-Youth-Provider Partnership in trauma-informed care
Beyond the Five Guiding Principles, another key aspect of trauma-informed care is fostering a productive relationship between the patient, the clinicians, and the patient’s family. In the field of trauma-informed care, clinicians refer to this multi-party collaboration as the “Family-Youth-Provider Partnership.” A healthy partnership is particularly important in cases of youth behavioral health problems where a child or teen dealt with adverse childhood experiences.
The partnership is important because the patient, the patient’s family, and the patient’s clinicians need to work together to achieve an optimal treatment outcome. The family can be a significant source of information when the clinician attempts to learn about each patient’s needs and history. Additionally, the clinician can help guide the family on how to support the person who struggles with behavioral health in the home environment. A supportive and healthy home environment is key to a patient’s long-term recovery from behavioral health challenges.
How Desert Parkway Behavioral Healthcare Hospital can help
If you or a loved one faces behavioral health challenges, know that treatment programs are available. At Desert Parkway Behavioral Healthcare Hospital, each team member receives trauma-informed care training, and trauma-informed care is at the heart of our treatment programs. We are a 152-bed private behavioral health facility in Las Vegas, NV, and we are here to help.
We offer a variety of behavioral health treatment programs at Desert Parkway Behavioral Healthcare Hospital. We offer inpatient treatment programs for adults, and we provide outpatient treatment programs for adults who do not need 24/7 care and monitoring. We also have age-specific programs for children and adolescent behavioral health needs. Additionally, our AspireRecovery program provides treatment for chemical dependency. Other programs include our Hopes for Heroes PTSD recovery programs and our treatment programs for aging adults.
To get started at our Las Vegas behavioral health treatment facility, a patient’s first step is to contact our team and schedule a free mental health assessment. The mental health assessment helps our clinical team better understand each patient’s behavioral health needs. With a complete mental health assessment, our team can make recommendations for each patient and customize a treatment program for each patient’s needs.
You can reach the Desert Parkway Behavioral Healthcare Hospital team on our 24/7 hotline: (877) 663-7976 . On the phone, our team can help answer any questions you may have about trauma-informed care and behavioral health treatment, and we can schedule you or a loved one for a free mental health assessment.
