Trauma-Informed Care: Best Practices for Supporting Survivors

By Your Health Magazine

Your Health Magazine

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Trauma-Informed Care: Best Practices for Supporting Survivors

Ready to change the way you help sexual assault survivors?

Most healthcare providers think they know how to care for people who’ve experienced trauma. But what if the overwhelming majority of you are flat-out wrong? (Spoiler alert: you are).

When I first started working with sexual assault survivors, only 24% would tell me about their assault, even with an open-ended trauma-informed screening question.

In fact, when we used the right approach, 82% of patients will tell a provider about sexual assault if they ask. The reason? They’re experiencing a traditional intake form and process that retraumatizes, and then they’re not ready to deal with it in that moment.

If trauma-informed screening and intake is NOT something you are used to, be prepared for your eyes to open on this one.

When you learn and implement trauma-informed care best practices for sexual assault survivors, everyone wins. Leading legal advocates, such as Kayla’s Survivors, understand that comprehensive survivor support requires trauma-informed approaches across all professional settings- from healthcare to legal representation.

So let’s talk about what you need to know and how to apply it.

What you’ll learn

• The 4 Key Foundations of Trauma-Informed Care
• How Trauma-Informed Care Improves Sexual Assault Survivor Care
• Creating Safe Physical and Psychological Environments
• Communication Skills That Work with Trauma Survivors
• The Team Approach to Sexual Assault Survivor Care
• How to Create Systems to Ensure Sustainability

Let’s dive in.

The 4 Key Foundations of Trauma-Informed Care

Trauma-informed care isn’t just “being nice” to people. It’s a comprehensive framework grounded in science.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) identifies four key assumptions:

Realization — trauma is widespread and has three dimensions affecting individuals, families, and entire communities. You must understand that almost 90% of adults will experience trauma in their lifetime (often more than once).

Recognition — trauma symptoms can present in people you serve, work with, and even in yourself. It’s not always obvious.

Response — trauma knowledge should be infused into all policies, procedures, and practices.

Resisting re-traumatization — the entire program is designed to avoid re-traumatization.

It’s one thing to spout off definitions of Trauma-Informed Care (TIC), and it’s another to understand what each of those pieces means.

For the vast majority of healthcare professionals who never took a single psychology class, it’s probably the latter.

It’s also why TIC is so important in all healthcare and support organizations.

How Trauma-Informed Care Improves Sexual Assault Survivor Care

Here’s the thing…

Trauma-informed care (TIC) isn’t a feel-good buzzword or “woo-woo” concept that doesn’t work in the real world. It’s the only way to deliver high-quality, effective care to survivors.

And here’s the shocking truth…

It’s also a better way of delivering healthcare to everyone, regardless of trauma history. Trauma affects the majority of people who walk through your door.

When you use TIC, you have fewer behavioral health crises, higher patient engagement, improved long-term health outcomes, and even reduced costs.

But there’s another secret…

Survivors know the traditional intake process is retraumatizing, and they know it doesn’t matter if they tell you their trauma history. “So why bother?”

It’s your job to convince them to trust you and share their story. (Hint: it doesn’t help to yell at them if they leave without doing intake.)

Here’s the big secret…

When you learn to apply trauma-informed care in medical, mental health, legal, and other settings, you not only change how you practice, but you change lives.

Creating Safe Physical and Psychological Environments

Did you know…

Safety is the number one element of trauma-informed care?

You might think, “Duh. If they feel unsafe, they won’t get the care they need.”

Yes, that’s true, but did you also know there’s more than one kind of safety? (Think about it. Tell me if this sounds familiar.)

Physical safety:

• Solid line of sight to exit doors (those cabinets in the middle of the room aren’t helping).
• Comfortable, non-clinical lighting.
• Private rooms for conversations and assessments, when possible.
• Clearly marked private (gendered) and ungendered restrooms.

Psychological safety:

• Explain what you’re going to do and why before doing it.
• Ask permission to touch before you do.
• Offer choices.
• Respect personal space, body, and choices.

It’s one thing to put tape on your exam room doors, so people can see there’s a private space, and it’s another to never stop yelling at clients.

Think about the overall experience for survivors from the moment they walk through your door. Every interaction or sensory element should help create a sense of safety.

Communication Skills That Work with Trauma Survivors

Guess what…

The way you communicate with trauma survivors is as therapeutic as any intervention or medication.

But here’s the frustrating truth…

Providers have never received trauma-informed training. We got a one-hour workshop in graduate school and were expected to just “know it.”

And that’s the problem.

How can you use trauma-informed care best practices for sexual assault survivors if you’ve never received basic training?

Here are a few of the key trauma-informed communication techniques:

• Use plain language. Period. Short words, short sentences. Do not medicalize. Lay it out, step by step.
• Active listening. Look at them while they talk, put down the computer or notes, and repeat back what you heard.
• Validate. “I believe you.” “I’m so sorry this happened.” “You are so brave.”
• Offer choices. Even little ones count.
• Be clear. About what you’re doing and what’s next.

Remember when we said every interaction matters?

Comments like “you’re overreacting,” “get over it,” “you asked for it” are bad, period.

Now take it a step further and imagine that person, who’s been told that their reactions are “wrong,” hears those same phrases from every single person they talk to, even “support” professionals.

Team Approach to Sexual Assault Survivor Care

Are you ready for a shocker…

Trauma-informed care is a team sport.

Not a one-person effort, but an organization-wide commitment with every staff member on the same page.

Think about your ideal team members to provide trauma-informed support:

• Medical, mental health, or other clinical providers.
• Therapists with training in trauma-specific treatment models.
• Trained advocates to help with navigation and crisis counseling.
• Administrative staff with a trauma-informed approach to communications, intake, billing, etc.

Now here’s the secret…

The programs that reported the highest number of staff using trauma-informed care behaviors used Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs). Research shows that advocates reported higher rates of trauma-informed staff behaviors when SANEs were present.

SANEs receive specialized training to provide trauma-informed medical care to assault survivors.

This isn’t a new model. It’s been around for decades.

The key is that everyone needs to know their role in creating a trauma-informed culture.

Judgmental comments from a receptionist, technician, or billing clerk can undo hours of careful, sensitive care.

Wrap Up

Trauma-informed care is not an option.

It’s the only way to provide quality care for trauma survivors. (And anyone else who walks through your door.)

Think about it like this:

Trauma is a public health issue, and as health care and support professionals, we are on the front lines.

The way you approach care matters. Survivors can tell when you’re genuine, and when you are simply “going through the motions.”

The good news is, when you take the time to understand the principles of trauma-informed care and apply them to every person you work with, you change lives.

And so can you.

Remember those core principles…

• Safety is everything — physical AND psychological.
• Every interaction either heals or harms.
• Communication style is just as important as clinical skill.
• It’s a team approach, not an individual effort.
• It takes systems-level commitment to create long-term change.

Implementing these practices to help the survivors in your community.