asphaleia embraces a Trauma Informed approach across the organisation. This practice is designed to understand the impact of trauma on the children and young people that we work with adopting an approach called ‘trauma informed practice’ (TIP); finding ways of improving safety, resilience and well-being for staff, service users, volunteers and the wider community.
It is common that we will know very little about the children and young people accessing services. They may not want to tell staff much about their experience. The actual threat and danger of the child or young person’s traumatic experiences is not the most important factor of understanding the child’s level of need – it is how this has affected them and what their experience means to them that is important.
trauma informed principles
There are six guiding principles to a trauma informed approach which are explored within our policy.
The following video explores these principles in more detail:
recognising trauma
Often when we witness a child or young person in distress we ask, “what is wrong with you?”, when in fact we should be focussing on “what happened to you?”. A trauma response is a survival response e.g. fight or flight. They are responding to help them survive the situation. This is a natural response.
When the cycle of trauma is complete, the threat is managed and the child or young person returns to a safe place. However, sometimes they can get stuck in the trauma cycle; living with a sense that the risk is never gone, and they must be constantly on guard to keep themselves safe.
This can present in many ways depending on the individual and what adaptations they have made to their lives to make this state bearable. Perhaps they struggle to trust people, or confront people before they can be confronted, rely on self-medicating, or even people-please to prevent conflict.
relevant links/resources:
Providing trauma-informed care: A case study of Weave Youth and Community Services (youtube.com)
Trauma-Informed Care Champions: From Treaters to Healers (youtube.com)
How the body keeps the score on trauma | Bessel van der Kolk for Big Think+ (youtube.com)
Trauma & Mental Health | Advice For Young People | YoungMinds
Childhood Trauma, War and Conflict | UK Trauma Council (youtube.com)