Applying Trauma-Informed Principles to a Social Work Practice Setting with Children and Families

Applying Trauma-Informed Principles to a Social Work Practice Setting with Children and Families

Agency Setting

The agency setting I was placed in previously was a private non-profit organization. The agency was, however, faith-based. The main goal of the agency was to support clients who have survived trauma such as wars, floods, terror attacks, and victims of house fires. During my service, we provided social, psychological, and financial support to the trauma survivors. Our ultimate goal was to prevent post-traumatic stress disorder and help those already experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder recover (Sweeney et al., 2018). While I was there, the agency was serving around 43 trauma survivors, mostly from wars, house fires, and victims of floods who were rendered homeless.

Demonstration of Key Principles:

Safety

During my placement, I can testify that the agency maintained safety during service. Trauma survivors are people who have passed through a lot to the extent of surviving a fatal incident. Throughout my placement, the agency demonstrated to the clients both physically and psychologically. The setting was under very tight security, with security guards all over the entrances. This was to assure the clients of physical safety. During their interaction with the clients, it was ensured that the services did not in any way compromise safety.

Trustworthiness and Transparency

For a better outcome of trauma-informed service, it is crucial to be trustworthy and transparent. According to AASW (2017), a social worker is obliged to be accountable for everything their service for transparency and trustworthiness. Every service involving the distribution of resources from donors was done openly, and the agency gave a weekly report of how their resources were utilized. The weekly report would then be read loudly before the donors and the trauma survivors who were the beneficiaries of integrity. Through this, the agency was able to gain the trust of both the donors and the beneficiaries. This act of trustworthiness attracted more and more donations. However, there were instances where the utilization process of the resources would not add up, but the manager of the agency would do a follow-up and identify the gap. In addition, the agency also conducted a monthly audit that was facilitated by an external party just to ensure accountability of the donation utilizations.

Peer Support

Peer support is key in the recovery and support of trauma survivors. The agency had a scheduled time for peer teaching and discussions. The trauma survivors were grouped according to their age and the kind of trauma they have survived. They would meet at least thrice weekly for peer-to-peer discussion. During the peer teaching and discussions, the agency would bring in a prominent person who was once a trauma survivor to facilitate the discussions. The discussions were effective because the survivors got to talk among themselves and share with them what they were going through.

Mutuality and Collaboration

I observed great teamwork in the agency setting. There was strong teamwork between the staff. During the meetings, everyone was given a chance, from the clerical officer to the cleaning staff, to contribute. The collaboration was shared with the clients. The staff trained and educated the clients on the importance of teamwork. Before making any decision, there was a meeting involving all the staff and supporting staff, and the contribution was valued. The agency recognized that each individual in the agency had a role to play.

Empowerment, Voice, and Choice

Throughout my experience, I observed the act of empowerment, voice, and choice. The agency viewed the trauma experiences of the survivors as a unifying factor for both the staff and clients. The staff of the agency setting always involved the clients in the decision-making process. The clients would be given a chance to contribute their ideas, and the staff respected them. For example, the agency would call for a meeting with clients and relatives whenever there was a decision needed to be made.

Cultural, Historical, and Gender Issues

Trauma is perceived differently in different cultures and may be expressed differently across cultures. Therefore, social workers must be culturally competent while serving clients. According to SAMHSA (), organizations offering trauma-informed service should adhere to the cultural, historical, and gender issues of their clients. At the agency setting where I was placed previously, the staff would meet each client individually to get to understand their cultural perception of the trauma they have undergone. The clients would be informed about the rules and policies of the agency and would be allowed to make decisions.

Ten Implementation Domains

The agency supported and invested in the implementation and sustainability of the trauma-informed approach. The leadership and governance of the agency demonstrated all six key principles. For instance, throughout the governance of the agency, it ensured safety, trustworthiness, and collaboration while serving trauma survivors. The agency leadership also organized peer discussions for peer-to-peer mentorship. However, the leadership had a challenge in observing empowerment, voice, and choice, given that the agency was a non-profit private organization and offered limited choices from which the trauma survivors did not have a voice or choice.

The agency had well-developed policies that guided its service. The developed policies incorporated and maintained all the six principles. However, the engagement and involvement of the trauma survivors were not as perfect due to limited staff and resources. Sometimes, the agency would not provide choices for the survivors due to limited options because they depended fully on donations and had no resource income from the government. The remaining domain, including cross-sector collaboration, screening assessment, training, workforce development, progress monitoring, financing, and evaluation, observed and maintained all the six key principles of service delivery.

Recommendations

Among the six principles, the only principle that was not well implemented across the ten implementation domains was the principle of empowerment, choice, and voice. To improve its implementation, some changes can be made at the organizational, environmental, programmatic, and administrative levels (Yatchmenoff et al., 2017). At an organizational level, the agency can call for more non-governmental organizations to come in support of the agency and expand the service delivery to provide the survivors with choices from which they can choose. The organization can also partner with the government to get extra support. Within the agency, the service providers can also come up with relevant policies that allow the survivors to speak out about their issues concerning service delivery. At an environmental level, the agency should provide the survivors with a friendly environment from which they can air their grievances without fear of being abandoned. The agency should make the survivors feel accepted and loved to empower them. The administrative changes that can help include increasing the workforce in the agency to improve the interactions between the survivors and the staff. With better interactions, they can get to hear from the survivors and be able to put in their suggestions. The administration can also provide the survivors with suggestion boxes from which they write their suggestions to help improve service delivery. For better involvement of the survivors in the program, the agency can allow the clients to choose among them a few leaders who can represent them during the administrative issues. At the program level, some policies and protocols should be adjusted to involve the trauma survivors in the service before their admission or entry into the program.

Barriers to the Creation of Trauma-informed Services

The barriers to the creation of trauma-informed services in the set included inadequate resources and a shortage of staff. For better service, an organization requires to have adequate resources that can help the survivors heal from the trauma. Inadequate resources predispose the survivors to another kind of trauma because they are institutionalized and yet not receiving adequate help. To overcome this barrier, the agency can transfer other survivors to available rehabilitation centres or public agencies that can accommodate large numbers of survivors. With a manageable number of trauma survivors, they can find a way to balance the resources. Another way is to create income-generating projects within the agency to add up the resources needed. The projects can include farming and the distribution of agricultural products. The barrier to shortage of staff can be overcome by hiring more staff or advertising opportunities for volunteers to come in and help (Damian et al., 2018). Being a faith-based organization, the agency can find it easy to get volunteers from the church. Some of the trauma survivors with leadership skills can also be incorporated into the system. Finally, the agency can also offer internship opportunities for students or graduates of social work to increase the workforce.

References

Damian, A. J., Gallo, J. J., & Mendelson, T. (2018). Barriers and facilitators for access to mental health services by traumatized youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 85, 273-278. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.01.003

SAMHSA’s Trauma and Justice Strategic Initiative. (2014). SAMHSA’s concept of trauma and guidance for a trauma-informed approach. Journal of evidence-informed social

Sweeney, A., Filson, B., Kennedy, A., Collinson, L., & Gillard, S. (2018). A paradigm shift: relationships in trauma-informed mental health services. BJPsych Advances, 24(5), 319-333. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/bjpsych-advances/article/paradigm-shift-relationships-in-traumainformed-mental-health-services/B364B885715D321AF76C932F6B9D7BD0

Webb, Nancy Boyd. Social work practice with children. Guilford Publications, 2019. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1d62DNKtYPFbya5ku9vYciYUnNaZ9w6oh/view?usp=sharing

Yatchmenoff, D. K., Sundborg, S. A., & Davis, M. A. (2017). Implementing trauma-informed care: Recommendations on the process. Advances in Social Work, 18(1), 167-185. https://doi.org/10.18060/21311

ORDER A PLAGIARISM-FREE PAPER HERE

We’ll write everything from scratch

The trauma-informed practice goes beyond the skills and techniques an individual social worker uses. Organizations and communities can unintentionally re-traumatize clients through their policies and procedures. Social workers have a responsibility to advocate for change.

Applying Trauma-Informed Principles to a Social Work Practice Setting with Children and Families

In this Assignment, you use the knowledge you have gained about trauma-informed practice to evaluate the organizational and operational structure of a setting with which you are familiar. You also make recommendations for changes needed to apply core trauma-informed principles.

The Assignment

In Week 4, you explored the concept of trauma-informed services through six principles and 10 implementation domains (SAMHSA, 2014). Now, choose a setting in which you have worked providing social work services (e.g., current/previous field placement, employer, etc.) and explore the principles and implementation domains of trauma-informed services in your chosen setting.

Submit a 5- to 7-page paper in which you address the following four areas:

Describe the agency setting. Is it public or private, non-profit or for-profit? Is the agency’s primary goal to serve trauma survivors? Approximately what percentage of clients would be defined as trauma survivors?
Explain how the setting demonstrates each of the 6 key principles. Provide examples.
Using the sample questions on pages 14-16 as a guide, assess each of the 10 implementation domains at the agency and explain which key principles are evident in each domain.
Provide specific recommendations for improving each of the principles that are not well implemented. Be specific about (1) organizational, (2) environmental, (3) programmatic, and/or (4) administrative changes that would need to occur for your agency to implement a trauma-informed approach.
Explain potential barriers to creating trauma-informed services in this setting and how you might address these barriers.
The paper should be presented in a clear and coherent manner and reflect critical thinking and a clear understanding of trauma-informed services. It should adhere to APA guidelines.

SAMHSA’s Six Principles are: 1. safety, 2. trustworthiness and transparency, 3. peer support, 4. collaboration and mutuality, 5. empowerment, voice and choice, 6. Cultural

10 Domains of Trauma-Informed Implementation are governance and leadership, policy, physical environment, engagement and involvement, cross-sector collaboration, screening, assessment, treatment services, training and workforce development, progress monitoring and quality assurance, financing and evaluation- SAMHSA, 2014.