Marianna Jaross
Trauma-informed care means we have an awareness of how trauma can impact a person’s sense of safety, experience in their body, ability to form connections, and behaviour.
It can include moving away from pathologising behaviour or diagnostic criteria in favour of a humanistic understanding that if we've experienced trauma and hardship; there can be ripple impacts of this.
Recovery looks different for everyone.
My perspective personally is that ‘recovery’ and ‘healing’ doesn’t have to mean that we no longer experience pain, reflection, or stings of the past. My sense is that the first steps involve the safety to have our voices heard, share our experiences to a level we are comfortable with (whether with professionals or otherwise), identify our patterns, and learn important tools to support ourselves.
In a podcast episode of ‘Where Shall We Begin?” psychotherapist Esther Perel has highlighted that the recovery of aliveness is an important part of trauma work. She has provided insight into having grown up amongst Holocaust survivors across her content, highlighting that trauma can shut us down and make us rigid and afraid, and healing means coming back to and engaging with life; which includes risk-taking, learning, forming connections, intimacy, and eroticism.
The latter is not limited to sexual encounters, but includes the ability to engage in life, create, learn, experience, and form meaningful connections. That is, we engage with life - and the people in it - rather than shutting ourselves off.
Of note, isolation, body disconnection, and challenges with accessing our aliveness is a common and reasonable response to pain; but there is hope when we can fan the embers of light with a healthcare system and perspective that supports long-term healing.
Stability and safety are requisite requirements at the start of - and throughout - a healing process. These are the other elements I think we need:
1.) A shift in systems perspectives. Resources, support, and understanding within healthcare is needed in that addressing trauma and hardship is not limited to the absence of pain; but the ability to re-engage with life meaningfully. I have written further about this from a system perspective (Jaross, 2023), as well as a personal one (Jaross, 2024).
2.) The understanding that healing usually has to involve the body and our physiology, and can include modalities that foster self-expression. Dance, music, art, and creativity are not only a part of what makes life beautiful; they can be deeply supportive to our nervous system, self-expression, and ability to create. Trauma disrupts our sense of self and our ability to explore; these modalities can reignite them and support our mental health.
3.) Lifestyle approaches to health. We need approaches that understand the mind-body-soul connection. This includes an understanding of how the practical elements of life and our health can influence or exacerbate the impacts of trauma, and our quality of life generally. The Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM) highlights a few important pillars that are supportive for everyone: Diet/nutrition, physical activity, smoking cessation, alcohol harm reduction, sleep and stress, and social connection (ASLM, retrieved 2024).
4.) Community. We know that loneliness and isolation can influence our mental health. Though in some ways we are more connected to each other than ever via social media, connecting with others and belonging to an in-person community is a necessary part of healing, engaging with life, and long-term mental health. The quality of our relationships determines the quality of our lives.
Overall, though safety, security, and stability are important to address, process, understand, and face our pain; there is work to be done via systems attitudes, additional supportive modalities, holistic lifestyle perspectives, and the healing powers of community and relationships.
Healing from trauma, abuse, or even just living ‘well’ is not just about not being in pain. It is about have access to practical and professional resources and support, a healthcare system that supports healing over time, and setting people up to engage in life where they can be present and alive; with the help of body work, relational tools, creativity, and community.
References
Jaross, M. (2023). Trauma, early interventions, and the issue of access in Australia. Medium. (Republished on mariannajaross.com.au in 2024).
Jaross, M. (2024). Holistic Healing: A lived and clinical perspective. https://www.mariannajaross.com.au/post/holistic-healing-a-lived-and-clinical-perspective
Perel, 12 August 2024. The arc of love – A romantic revival. In Where Should We Begin? With Esther Perel. Esther Perel Global Media.
The Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine. (Retrieved August 27, 2024). About the Australasian Society of Lifestyle Medicine (ASLM). https://www.lifestylemedicine.org.au
© Marianna Jaross 2024
Note: This article is independent of my professional association(s) and workplace(s).
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