SAMHSA Resources – Healing from Trauma and Implementing Change

To grow up happy, healthy, and whole we need to have a foundation of safety in our homes, schools, and communities. When things happen that disrupt this feeling of safety, it can affect an individual’s ability to pursue educational and employment goals and establish close personal relationships, and lead to other difficulties in achieving a full life in the community. There is a growing recognition that experiences of trauma are often the underpinning of many mental health and substance use issues. By increasing public awareness and understanding of the connection between trauma experiences and behavioral health consequences, we can promote prevention, treatment, and recovery.

There are many ways in which families, providers, peers, and community members can make a meaningful impact in the life of someone who has experienced trauma. Although it may seem small, one of the most valuable things a person can do is simply to listen and acknowledge that individual’s experiences while being supportive of his or her recovery. By listening, we support the survivor in letting go of the shame and secrecy that are part of the trauma experience and help restore his or her dignity. Each of us can learn to provide this compassionate listening, which allows survivors to talk about what happened. 

Communities across the country are infusing the values of trauma-informed care into mental health and substance use services, peer-run organizations and communities, child welfare settings, schools, homeless shelters, and correctional facilities to create organizations that support individuals as they pursue healing pathways toward wellness and recovery. These approaches are based on an understanding of the vulnerabilities or triggers of trauma survivors and work to create a safe environment.

In this e-resource update, we highlight a range of resources available at the Web site of SAMHSA’s Resource Center to Promote Acceptance, Dignity and Social Inclusion Associated with Mental Health (ADS Center) related to trauma and trauma-informed care. These resources are designed to support individuals in recovery who have experienced trauma, to educate individuals and organizations on the realities of trauma, and to demonstrate how trauma-informed care can be incorporated into any setting.

To learn more about trauma-informed care and how you can support individuals in recovery, check out these resources:

• Watch the archived ADS Center Webinar Demystifying Trauma: Sharing Pathways to Healing and Wellness to learn about the impact trauma can have on an individual and how the experience of sharing one’s story can play a valuable role in recovery. Speakers discuss what peers and providers can do to best support individuals as a respectful listener and how the values of trauma-informed care can be put into practice. This Webinar is available at http://promoteacceptance.samhsa.gov/teleconferences/archive/training/teleconference09262011.aspx.

• Check out an archived Webinar from SAMHSA’s Wellness Campaign, The Impact of Trauma on Wellness: Implications for Comprehensive Systems Change, to learn about the impact trauma can have on health and wellness and how gender and culture can play a role in both the effects of trauma and in determining the best approaches to healing and recovery. The Webinar is available at http://promoteacceptance.samhsa.gov/10by10/archives/2011_3_30__archive.aspx. 

• Visit the National Center for Trauma-Informed Care, a SAMHSA technical assistance center, to learn more about trauma-informed care and why it is important to integrate into care models. Their Web site includes information about trauma-specific intervention models and a list of national hotlines, referral resources, and support services.  Visit the center’s Web site at http://www.samhsa.gov/nctic. 

• Utilize Engaging Women in Trauma-Informed Peer Support: A Guidebook created by the National Center for Trauma-Informed Care and Advocates for Human Potential, Inc. with funding by SAMHSA. This publication offers peer providers working in healthcare settings detailed information to help integrate trauma-informed care principles into their clinical relationships with individuals as well as into other peer support groups of which they may be members. The guide is available in the Brochures and Fact Sheets part of the Information by Topic: Gender section of our Web site at http://www.promoteacceptance.samhsa.gov/topic/gender/brochures.aspx.

• Visit The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN), which works to improve both quality of care and access to services for children and adolescents who have experienced trauma or been exposed to traumatic events. NCTSN serves as a resource for evidence-based interventions, trauma-informed services, and education for various groups including parents, professionals, military families, and educators. Find NCTSN and other resource organizations in this part of the Information by Audience: Family section of the ADS Center Web site: http://promoteacceptance.samhsa.gov/audience/families/organizations.aspx. 

• Check out the National Center on Family Homelessness and the Homelessness Resource Center’s Trauma-Informed Organizational Toolkit for Homeless Services, which provides resources, knowledge, and guidance to homeless service providers and others working to provide appropriate support to families that have experienced traumatic stress. The toolkit outlines concrete steps that organizations can take to become trauma informed, as well as a self-assessment to help organizations evaluate and adjust current methods to better serve and support clients. Access this toolkit and many others in the Brochures and Fact Sheets part of the Information by Audience: Family section of the ADS Center Web site at http://promoteacceptance.samhsa.gov/audience/families/brochures.aspx.

Learn more at our Web site, http://promoteacceptance.samhsa.gov, about what communities can do to support people with mental health problems, substance use disorders, and trauma histories and how communities can benefit from the active participation of people with lived experience in community life. You can also access a wide range of other topics and resources. Stay tuned for future e-updates from the ADS Center. In the coming months, we will be adding a trauma-informed care section to our Web site.

We invite you to share this update with others who may be interested and to encourage them to join the ADS Center listserv by visiting http://promoteacceptance.samhsa.gov/main/listserve.aspx.