Trauma-informed training: what is it and why you need to know about it Part One

Around 70% of people globally will experience a potentially traumatic event during their lifetime.

About 6% will go on to develop PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).  Source: WHO.

In my trauma-informed training over the past few decades, I’ve worked with people who’ve survived El Shabab attacks, child soldiers, survivors of gender-based violence, kidnapping, etc. 

Taking special care and working hard to make everyone feel safe so they can participate is always a win.

For everyone.

While normally making assumptions can make a chump out of you and me, it’s unfortunately a safe bet that there’ll be folks in your circle, in your training sessions, who are trauma survivors.

And while there’s a lot of research on trauma-informed care and counseling, there’s much less on trauma-informed training.

Given the number of people who have experienced trauma (revisit those stats above), we owe it to our participants to take very good care of them and create as healthy and safe a learning environment as possible.

The importance of trauma-informed training amps up even more when you add in emotionally laden content.  In other words, content that is likely to raise emotions, be difficult, challenging, and/or controversial.

Think conflict resolution training, for example.  Even thinking about conflict can be a trigger for some people who have a history of trauma.

Participants with trauma experience + emotionally laden content = a cauldron just waiting to boil over

So let’s turn the page and focus on what trauma-informed training looks like.

I’ve organized five tips and tools for each of the five guiding trauma-informed values and principles proposed by Drs. Maxine Harris and Roger Fallot.

I’ve included an additional five tips under the category of Preparation.

These values and principles are: safety (physical and emotional), trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment. Source: What is Trauma-Informed Care?, Buffalo Center for Social Research, University at Buffalo.

Preparation

Use these tips to prepare yourself and your content ahead of time.

1. Community. If it’s possible, know the kind of community of participants you’ll be working with in advance. For example, working with countering violent extremism groups (CVE) is very different from working with a corporate banking group, especially when you know, for example, that there will most likely be former child soldiers in the group.
2. Content. Teaching computer skills is very different from conflict resolution skills.  One tends to be emotionally more charged than the other (though you could argue, depending on your background, that they can be equally so!).  Assess your content for how likely it is to evoke emotions.
3. Context. Dig into what’s been happening lately in the context of your workshop participants.  For example, the context will really play a part if something dramatic has happened recently, such as a bunch of layoffs, an attack on the compound where you’ll be teaching, etc.  
4. Privilege. If possible, assess what kind of privilege is likely to be had by the participants.  Or not.  What kind of socio-economics will you be dealing with, literacy levels, physical ability, race/ethnicity, etc. All of these play a role in being trauma-informed.
5. Your privilege.  Do the work. Know what kind of privilege you have and don’t have, and think ahead of time how that may influence the workshop.  Know when you can legitimately speak for a community and when you can’t. 

Safety

Unless participants feel safe, there’s not going to be any learning happening.  Brains will be focused solely on the fight, flee, freeze or fawn response.

Luckily, there’s lots you can do to help everyone feel safe (yourself included if you’re a trauma survivor).

1. Welcome.  The introduction and welcome are SO important.  Our brains, unconsciously, decide 11 things about a person in the first 7 seconds, including trustworthiness.  Create a safe environment from the get-go.
2. Seating. Where someone is sitting can go a long way in helping to make them feel safe or not.  If at all possible, allow people to choose where they sit.  For me, for example, as a trauma survivor, I will always choose to sit with a wall behind me if at all possible.  I feel safer that way.
3. Eyes closed. Don’t. Don’t ask people to close their eyes for any kind of activity without offering an option. It can be an automatic trigger. For example, say something like “for this next activity, I encourage you to close your eyes, or simply let your gaze soften and look up, whichever feels best for you.”
4. Breaks. Give them. Not only does it give people a chance to breathe, re-regulate if necessary, but it also helps with retention. 
5. Aldmon massaging. Do whatever else you can to help participants feel safe, including different ways to massage their almonds. Seriously.

Trustworthiness

1. Surprises. Just don’t.  Surprise people, that is.  It’s a trigger response for people who’ve survived trauma.  For example, don’t ask for volunteers to help you with an activity without explaining first what you want them to do. Ambiguity is a no-no.  As is being vague.  Be specific.
2. Food. Food can build trust or break it.  Make sure to incorporate culturally sensitive food options. 
3. Triggers. There’s no way to know (nor would it be appropriate to ask) what triggers people who’ve survived trauma.  I once did a workshop where the sound of chewing was a trigger for someone, as her abuser often ate while committing heinous acts on her. Being aware of triggers and doing your best to get ahead of them can go a long way in building trust. 
4. Recording. Ask the group if it’s okay to record the workshop.  If one person says no, then the answer is no overall.
5. Confidentiality/anonymity.  Make sure to honour confidentiality and anonymity both if you’re gathering information ahead of time from participants; let them know how you’ll be using the data, so they can make informed choices about what they’re telling you. And the same with the workshop.  Be clear.

Based on what you’re teaching and to whom, pick the tips above that work best for you.

Given the number of people who have survived trauma, it’s so important to keep this in mind when designing and delivering training.  

In this post, I shared five tips each for how to get prepared and how to create safety and trust.  Next week, I’ll share five tips each for how to give participants choice and encourage collaboration and empowerment.

Onwards!

Now go on and learn, laugh, and lead

Learn

• Again, based on what you’re teaching and to whom, pick the tips above that work best for you.

Laugh

• True tales that some trauma survivors may relate to.

Lead

• Try your hand at the tips and let me know how it goes.