Trauma‐Informed Care for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness: An Avenue for Community Psychology's Involvement in Community Mental Health

Abstract

Individuals with serious mental illness are at particularly high risk for trauma; however, service environments with which they interact may not always be trauma-informed. While community mental health and other human services settings are moving toward trauma-informed care (TIC) service delivery, a variety of TIC frameworks exist without consensus regarding operationalization, thereby leading to challenges in implementation. TIC is principle-driven and presents substantial overlap with community psychology values and competencies, including ecological frameworks, second-order change, empowerment, and citizen participation. One way to address barriers to TIC implementation is to draw on the strengths of the field of community psychology. With a particular emphasis on the applicability of TIC to individuals with serious mental illness, this paper identifies key implementation issues and recommends future directions for community psychologists in clarifying the service framework, its adaptation to specific service contexts, and improving delivery through consultation and evaluation. Community psychologists may work with various disciplines involved in the TIC field to together promote a more conscious, actionable shift in service delivery.

Service use and recovery among currently and formerly homeless adults with mental illness

“…As readiness for change toward a recovery orientation in the homeless sector service is low (Manning & Greenwood, 2019), mental health systems have an important capacity building role in recovery. After people exit homelessness, providing access to wraparound supports that use a trauma-informed approach, which aligns with a recovery model (Mihelicova et al, 2018), would be beneficial to addressing basic needs associated with poverty that may impede the recovery journeys of people with mental illness. This study had several limitations.…”

Understanding the Experiences and Needs of Migrant Women Affected by Female Genital Mutilation Using Maternity Services in Australia

“…Efforts in the area of trauma-informed care currently focus on strengthening health provider's knowledge and skills based on their interactions with consumers, rather than understanding a women's experiences and needs [62,63]. Implementing participatory interventions, however, requires both the health system and community change [64]. Women need to be supported to become empowered to recognise their potential and utilise their capacity in the design and delivery of services [65].…”

Reflections of stress in US abortion narratives

“…When people are already trauma-exposed, the minimizing of stress in health and social service settings is of utmost importance in order to reduce the potential for exacerbation of existing or historical trauma (Ely et al, 2018c). This approach is relevant for people seeking abortion globally, as trauma exposure is associated with many of the hardships that are also reported by abortion patients, such as poverty and homelessness (Ely et al, 2017b;Mihelicova, Brown, & Shurman, 2017). By applying TIC social work principles of safety, trust/transparency, collaboration, choice, and empowerment during abortion referrals, service delivery, and policy formation, the impacts of stress, traumatic stress, and any trauma exacerbation that might occur during the abortion seeking process can be minimized, while staff satisfaction can be potentially be increased (Bowen & Murshid, 2016;Ely et al, 2018c;Fallot & Harris, 2009;Hales, Nochajski, Green, Hitzel, & Woike-Ganga, 2017;Harris & Fallot, 2001).…”