On May 22, 2018 the United States Senate passed a resolution recognizing the importance and effectiveness of trauma-informed care. It is a national declaration that supports trauma-informed approaches to treating trauma-impacted individuals who are in so many of our systems.
I referred to the resolution in a past post when it was passed by the House of Representatives. This is now an update to confirm this resolution passed at the Senate level. Here is a quote from the resolution:
“…Adopting trauma-informed approaches in workplaces, communities, and government programs can aid in preventing mental, emotional, physical, and social issues for people impacted by toxic stress or trauma.”
Although passing this resolution has been a lengthy process, our professional community who continues to work diligently to help trauma-impacted children and adults is extremely thankful and pleased.
We have now begun a national movement to inform our professional communities and workplaces about the nature of trauma, how to prevent it, how not to trigger a trauma victim, and how to provide truly effective services to trauma-impacted individuals to mitigate its devastating impact.
For many who suffer from social ills of such as opioid addictions, mental health issues, crime, violence, PTSD and other related behaviors, is a core of unresolved trauma.
For example, if someone is acting out, trying to navigate the emotional pain of the trauma they experienced, their coping behavior is often misunderstood and incorrectly labelled. This mistaken labelling of behavior happens to many students. As a result, they do not receive the proper help which can lead them to a life of being helpless to overcome their obstacles.
We have for years researched, promoted, rationalized and validated the need for finding ways to prevent these social ills. Yet, the majority of our funding reflects has been designated to after-the-fact treatment that may or may not be effective unless it is designed to treat the trauma history and behavior of an individual.
Because of this resolution, May 22nd is now recognized as National Trauma-Informed Awareness Day, and May is National Trauma Awareness Month.
This resolution is a start to what I hope will be a national agenda to train professionals and communities of practice to be trauma-informed and more equipped to care for those they encounter. Then we can truly help more individuals who are wrestling with unresolved trauma.
Gerry Vassar, President/CEO
Source: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/senate-resolution/346/text
