Transition-Age Youth (TAY) are young people who are transitioning out of the child mental health system and into the adult mental health system. It can be a hard transition that requires strong engagement on the part of providers. This transition period requires strong trauma-informed approach. Trauma-informed care is an approach to practice that raises awareness of the impact of psychological trauma and how common it is in society. Trauma-informed engagement is particularly crucial during the transition period because many young people with histories of mental healthcare needs have been exposed to trauma, adversity, or toxic stress in childhood that directly contributed to their mental health conditions, but they’ve also experienced much adversity a result of their mental healthcare needs through such experiences as suicide attempts, harsh discipline, seclusion, homelessness, and domestic violence.
Motivational Interviewing is a powerful approach to supporting others that is naturally trauma-responsive. By emphasizing safety and trust, collaboration and empowerment or activation, the complimentary nature of these two frameworks emerge.
In its most basic definition resilience is the ability to adapt or recover from stress or challenge in a healthy manner. Many used to believe that people were either born resilient, or not. That the ability heal and recover in the face of adversity was an intrinsic trait. Happily, we now recognize that while there are some internal capacities to resilience, qualities that support a recovery over time can be grown, built, and supported in ourselves and others. Here are three fundamental ways to increase resilience in ourselves and others.
The Community Technical Assistance Center of NY (CTAC) is pleased to announce the launch of new self-learning modules on the foundations of trauma-informed care. Learn more about this new web-based series available to organizations throughout NYS at no cost.
We are moving through the season of gatherings, celebrations, rituals and ceremonial practices. It’s a time throughout the year that we may see family members and old friends we don’t see often. For some of us it’s a time of remembrance and deep wounds that were never healed, so moving through this season may bring about stress. So often during this season our good intentions fall short and we find our self-responding to the present from our past.
In trauma-responsiveness work, we talk about self-care a lot. Yet many practitioners, professionals, and caregivers struggle to commit to it in our own lives. Here we reflect on self-care and consider easy ways that we might build ourselves a workable plan -and support the self-care of others.
It was a simple statement: “She’s not white, she’s light skinned.” This seemingly simple statement opened important questions, observations, and opportunity to engage with colleagues, clients and families of diverse backgrounds in deeply meaningful ways. This post shares these insights and challenges us all to address systemic practices that undermine connection, and most importantly to foster brave spaces where all voices are used, all voices are heard, and all elicit responsive action.
As understanding of Adverse Childhood Events (ACEs) has moved from the world of research into the mainstream, close attention must be paid to what is meant by “ACEs” and how the they are considered within a larger social construct. Since our interpretation of information will drive our intervention, it is important to be informed consumers of data -understanding what data tells us, and what it doesn't.
In this month’s newsletter, we’ll be exploring the topic of trauma-responsiveness within residential care and treatment. Profound work is being done throughout our state and nationally that seeks to apply what we know about trauma to working with the most vulnerable in our communities. My own experience with this topic is indirect and yet it made a profound impact on my life and professional perspective.
We now have a deeper appreciation for how people react to trauma and victimization. This is good news. And the other good news is that there are over 200 programs in New York State funded by the NYS Office of Victim Services (OVS) where crime victims can get assistance to go from victim to survivor to thriver. These programs offer trauma-informed services to provide victims with help, hope and healing.