What are the key principles and skills of trauma-informed case management?

It’s important to remember that not all who experience a trauma will experience PTSD. For PTSD: Criterion A: stressor (one required) The person was exposed to: death, threatened death, actual or threatened serious injury, or actual or threatened sexual violence, in the following way(s): Direct exposure Witnessing the trauma Learning that a relative or close friend was exposed to a trauma Indirect exposure to aversive details of the trauma, usually in the course of professional duties (e.g., first responders, medics)

People can experience trauma from discrimination based on race, gender identity, nationality, etc. Work place trauma can also occur and be experienced through interactions with those in leadership and positions of power.

So to sum it up, when working in trauma informed care, one needs to remember the six principles that guide that care. They are: safety; trustworthiness and transparency; peer support; collaboration and mutuality; empowerment, voice and choice; and cultural issues.

Case managers should also be familiar with gender diversity and understand that providing gender-affirming care is part of being trauma-informed.

In my experience we must keep in mind The "Four R's"—realization about trauma and how it can influence people and communities; recognition of the indications of trauma; creating a system that can respond to trauma; and resisting re-traumatization—are the four guiding principles of the trauma-informed approach.

In my experience sensitivity is critical for people who are going through or have gone through trauma. Emotions are usually running high so it is imperative to have a extreme patience and tolerance to handle all types of extremes that are bound to come out during such interactions with people, clients etc.

Oftentimes, birth trauma is not considered as a traumatic experience because society views birth as a “scary/traumatic” event, whereas it’s expected to traumatize the birthing person. But birth trauma is more than the physical experience of the birth, it’s also the emotional weight of being ignored when you have a concern, it’s also the assumption of consent to “check” the birth canal that can create PTSD associated with sexual trauma or violation; further increasing the risk of clinical intervention like c-section. We need to include these factors in case management of pregnant women and birthing people to gain a better scope of care and support their needs from an appropriate lense.