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Trauma-Informed Care: Progressive Mental Health Care for the Twenty-First Century

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European Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing in the 21st Century

Part of the book series: Principles of Specialty Nursing ((PSN))

Abstract

This chapter focuses on one of the most important developments in European mental health care in recent decades—Trauma-Informed Care. It begins by exploring the nature and epidemiology of trauma. Following this, the chapter examines assessment of trauma and then considers the ten principles of Trauma-Informed Care services. The chapter then concludes by looking at the Psychiatric/Mental Health (P/MH) nursing responses within Trauma-Informed Care models. The acknowledgement and acceptance of Trauma-Informed Care in mental health-care policy, practice, research and, to a lesser extent, education, at least for some, is considered to be perhaps the most significant development in European mental health care in recent decades. Such models accentuate the need for mental health-care practitioners, including P/MH nurses, and the organizations that they work within, to recognize and accept the prevalence and pervasive impact that trauma can (and does) have on the lives of the clients they work alongside (SAMHSA 2015, 2016). Further, such models posit the need for mental health services to adapt and become even more trauma-sensitive and trauma-responsive.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Readers are encouraged to review Wittgenstein (1953), Rodgers (1989) or Cutcliffe and McKenna (2005) on the evolutionary or developmental nature of concepts—they change over time through use. See evidence of this phenomenon also in the changing definitions of diagnoses in progressive iterations of the DSM.

  2. 2.

    The author/editors have deliberately used the term ‘potentially’ here as there is also a body of evidence which shows how in some cases trauma can actually lead to personal development and growth (see Chap. 11).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cutcliffe Consulting, Kingston, Canada

    John R. Cutcliffe

  2. School of Nursing, Coimbra, Portugal

    John R. Cutcliffe

  3. Healthcare Manager, Chiron Health Services, Prince George Regional Correctional Centre, British Columbia, Canada

    Rodger Travale

  4. Clinical Instructor and Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, Wright State University Ohio, New York, NY, USA

    Tyler Green

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  1. John R. Cutcliffe
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  2. Rodger Travale
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  3. Tyler Green
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Correspondence to John R. Cutcliffe .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Escola Superior de Enfermagem de Coimbra, Nursing School of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal

    José Carlos Santos

  2. Cutcliffe Consulting, Kingston, Canada

    John R. Cutcliffe

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Cutcliffe, J.R., Travale, R., Green, T. (2018). Trauma-Informed Care: Progressive Mental Health Care for the Twenty-First Century. In: Santos, J., Cutcliffe, J. (eds) European Psychiatric/Mental Health Nursing in the 21st Century. Principles of Specialty Nursing. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-31772-4_9

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