Trauma Informed
Trauma for youth and children has many causes— sexual and other forms of abuse, witnessing or experiencing domestic violence, a serious accident, natural disaster, acts of war, parental divorce or long-term separation, among others. Trauma symptoms, such as: anxiety, depression, anger, post traumatic stress, dissociation or sexual concerns, and correlative behaviors related to traumatic stress can manifest in school, foster homes, homeless shelters, youth correctional facilities, mental health agencies— anywhere and everywhere youth with trauma histories and their families are found.
Why Trauma-Informed Care Matters
In 1998, the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study (Felitti et al.) sampled 9,500 people and found a strong relationship between the breadth of exposure to abuse or household dysfunction during childhood and multiple risk factors for several leading causes of adult mortality. New research links childhood trauma to higher rates of mental health problems and obesity in children.
Since the effects of childhood trauma can impact a person’s overall health and well-being across time, system-wide efforts to become ”trauma-informed” aim to improve health outcomes and reduce the high costs of unaddressed and untreated trauma to individuals and society. In 2010, the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) identified Trauma and Justice as a strategic initiative designed to reduce the behavioral health impacts of violence through integrating trauma-informed services in prevention and treatment programs.
SAMHSA-funded Systems of Care address the Mental Health Needs of Young Children and Their Families. Maine’s system of care began in 2005 to become trauma-informed through cross-system collaboration, training, education, accountability and meaningful family and youth involvement. Today Maine’s mental health providers that have received THRIVE’s trainings practice the trauma-informed service paradigm that begins with the question “What has happened to you?” rather than “What is wrong with you?” This approach recognizes problematic behaviors as stress responses related to past trauma or as a means of coping with or adapting to painful current circumstances.
