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Trauma-Informed Systems of Care

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Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan

Abstract

Survivors of interpersonal trauma are vulnerable to risk of re-victimization when seeking help from community agencies such as welfare offices, substance abuse clinics, schools, homeless shelters, medical facilities and criminal justice agencies. Re-victimization of trauma survivors can lead to client dropout, “resistant” behavior, and treatment failure. It can also lead to stress, conflict, burnout, and frequent turnover among staff. Trauma-informed care is a community’s best approach to supporting survivors of interpersonal violence, but many agencies under-estimate its value or lack a comprehensive approach to its implementation. Budgetary concerns, resistance to change, turf issues, hierarchical power structures, lack of training, fears of trauma contagion and negative attitudes towards service recipients contribute to the problems. Interdisciplinary collaboration, investment in prevention, concern for employee wellness and top-down commitment are essential features of trauma-informed agencies. This chapter will present an overview of trauma-informed care, the benefits to clients and providers, obstacles to implementation of best practices, and research initiatives in the field.

This chapter will focus on the issues, research, practice, policies, and current state of the science of trauma-informed care for interpersonal violence and abuse and serve as a basis for conceptualizing best practices for reducing the various forms of interpersonal violence that will be addressed more fully in the chapters to come.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Work, Marywood University, Scranton, PA, USA

    Karen Rich

  2. Healing Reflections Therapy, St. Louis, MO, USA

    Megan R. Garza

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  1. Karen Rich
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  2. Megan R. Garza
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Karen Rich .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma, San Diego, CA, USA

    Robert Geffner

  2. Department of Psychology College of Arts and Sciences, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Jacquelyn W. White

  3. Department of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    L. Kevin Hamberger

  4. Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Alan Rosenbaum

  5. Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Viola Vaughan-Eden

  6. Education and Research, Zero Abuse Project, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Victor I. Vieth

Section Editor information

  1. Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma, San Diego, CA, USA

    Robert Geffner

  2. California School of Professional Psychology, Alliant International University, San Diego, CA, USA

    Robert Geffner

  3. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Jacquelyn W. White

  4. Department of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    L. Kevin Hamberger

  5. Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Alan Rosenbaum

  6. Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Viola Vaughan-Eden

  7. Education and Research, Zero Abuse Project, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Victor Vieth

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Rich, K., Garza, M.R. (2022). Trauma-Informed Systems of Care. In: Geffner, R., White, J.W., Hamberger, L.K., Rosenbaum, A., Vaughan-Eden, V., Vieth, V.I. (eds) Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89999-2_293

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