Welcome to the Introduction to Trauma-Informed Care. In 2020 The World Health Organization released that of the 2 billion children alive on the planet, 1 billion – half!- had experienced violence, abuse, or neglect in the past year. The National Council for Behavioral Health estimates that 70% of adults are affected by trauma - having experienced things like abuse, neglect, or abandonment during childhood or systemic racism, violence, or natural disasters as an adult. And these numbers don’t take into consideration chronic stress or the recent pandemic.
Who are these children and adults? They are in your neighborhood, grocery store, classroom, medical center, or even your house. In fact, it might be the person in your mirror. It's a statistical certainty that some of you participating in this course have experienced trauma in your own life. If that’s your story, you might find this material to be a bit overwhelming or uncomfortable. If at any time that becomes true, please hit pause and take a moment to disengage. Grab a drink of water, go for a walk, or just relax and breathe. You might even want to find a good friend to go through the rest of the course with you. The goal is that you feel safe and calm here. We want to engage in this important work in a way that not only allows us to consider the health and wholeness of those we’re caring for or serving but ourselves as well. Because your life is a crucial part of the healing equation.
Before we go further, allow me to quickly comment on the language used in this course. You may hear me use the language of children and adolescents often – this is where my trauma-informed journey started – but I promise you, the concepts and Essential Skills you will learn can be applied with any age group so I invite you to use your context as your lens for understanding and applying this information.
Now, I mentioned you’d be learning about Essential Skills. The Trauma-Competent Care training was adapted from the Essential Skills of Trauma-Informed Care created by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network. The full training covers 7 Essential Skills - in this Introductory course, we will dive into Essential Skills one through four. Let’s look at what those are: Essential skill #1 is to understand the lifelong impact of trauma. This is foundational. Sometimes we just want to skip to “how do I handle behavior” If we don't know HOW children, adolescents and adults have been affected by trauma, we won't have the motivation, compassion, energy, or commitment to stay engaged in the work.
Essential Skill #2 is to increase felt safety. Felt safety means that those with difficult pasts not only ARE physically safe but that they FEEL safe as well. The experience of safety is what will allow the brain to relax. Essential skill # 3 focuses on reducing overwhelming emotions by building connections. And Essential Skill #4 focuses on reducing overwhelming behaviors.
You may be interested in the remaining 3 skills. Essential skill # 5 is supporting children and adolescents' essential connections and Essential Skill #6 is helping children and adolescents create a strength-based understanding of their life stories. Check out a full Advanced Trauma Competent Care training to explore those important topics. Last, but definitely not least, is Essential Skill #7, Practicing Self-Care. This important subject is its own 30-minute course. If we, the Middle Circle Adults, aren't caring for ourselves while caring for others, we’re at great risk for compassion fatigue, secondary trauma, or burnout. One important factor in working with children and adolescents from traumatic backgrounds is longevity of relationships. Trust comes through time. These kids have already experienced a staggering number of losses, including the loss of safe adult relationships. We can avoid being another loss by practicing self-care. Working with vulnerable populations is a marathon, not a sprint -- we can’t finish the marathon without attending to our own wellness so I invite you to consider watching the self-care course on the Trauma Free World website, as well.

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