Trauma-Informed Care
What is the Primary Goal of Trauma-Informed Care?
Left untreated, trauma can significantly hurt your overall health, quality of life, and relationships. In this article, we’ll explore more about trauma-informed care, what is the primary goal of trauma-informed care, and more.
At Confluence Behavioral Health, we offer premier mental health treatment in Vermont so patients can improve their mental health and well-being. Contact us today to learn more!
What is Trauma-Informed Care?
Before diving into “what is the primary goal of trauma-informed care,” it is essential to understand what trauma-informed care is and how it can help those struggling with unresolved trauma.
Trauma-informed care is a type of treatment approach that acknowledges your trauma in a safe space and provides techniques and practices that can help heal and work through your trauma in a healthy manner. Trauma can impact your mind and body and inevitably impact your behaviors and feelings.
Likewise, trauma can impact virtually all areas of your life, from triggering feelings of stress and anxiety to having difficulty trusting others, and more. Failure to treat your trauma in a healthy manner can result in a range of negative consequences, ranging from substance abuse to difficulty forming more meaningful relationships with others, depression, and more.
Trauma-informed care offers an effective way to help patients identify, understand, and heal from their trauma so that they can improve their overall mental health and quality of life for the better.
There are a variety of practices that can be involved in trauma-informed care, which include: creating a safe, secure environment to discuss your trauma, building trust with yourself and others that may have been fractured from your trauma, finding healthy ways to cope with your trauma with the support of a licensed mental health professional, and more.
What is the Primary Goal of Trauma-Informed Care?
Now that you know more about what trauma-informed care is, let’s explore the question “What is the primary goal of trauma-informed care”?
The primary goal of trauma-informed care, in a nutshell, is to create a safe space for an individual to heal from their trauma in a healthy way without retraumatizing them. There is a big difference between feeling uncomfortable when thinking about your trauma and still taking practical steps toward healing your trauma vs re-traumatizing yourself, which can take you multiple steps back in your healing journey.
Therefore, the goal of trauma-informed care is to promote healing without retraumatization. This can sometimes be a fine line. Below are several ways that enacting this goal for healing without retraumatizing the patient can occur.
Creating a Sense of Safety and Control
It can be daunting to work through your trauma because it involves thinking about your trauma again. In trauma-informed care, your therapist will create a safe space so you can restore feelings of safety and control in your life and ultimately take strides to heal from your trauma in a healthy way.
Unfortunately, many people with unresolved trauma may try to hide or ignore their trauma, hoping it will just go away on its own. However, oftentimes this can continue to grow a rising sense of unease and lack of control in a patient’s life, and negatively impact other areas of life for the patient as well.
Building Trust with Yourself and Others
Left untreated, trauma can also negatively impact an individual’s ability to trust themselves and others. Inevitably, this can make it difficult for them to create deeper, more meaningful connections with others for fear of becoming traumatized again by someone close to them.
Prevent Retraumatizing Yourself
When working through your trauma, it is important to prevent retraumatisation because this can inevitably hurt your ability to heal and progress in your trauma recovery journey. In trauma-informed care, a licensed mental health professional will help you understand and work through your trauma ina safe space without ignoring your trauma or causing retraumization.
Practice Healthy Coping Strategies
Healing from trauma also involves learning and practicing healthy coping strategies. This can involve practicing grounding, mindfulness, and other techniques your therapist recommends to help you minimize feelings of stress and promote emotional regulation.
Benefits of Seeking Trauma-Informed Care
Now that you know the answer to “what is the primary goal of trauma-informed care”, it is important to understand the various benefits of seeking trauma-informed care if you or someone you know is struggling with unresolved trauma.
Safe Space to Heal Your Trauma
Trauma-informed care provides you with a safe space to heal from your trauma, along with the support of a licensed mental health professional.
Improve Physical and Mental Well-Being
When you heal from your unresolved trauma in a healthy manner, you also inevitably improve your overall physical health and mental well-being for the better.
Build Healthy Coping Strategies
Building healthy coping strategies you can use when feeling triggered or stressed can help you throughout your healing journey.
Help Is Available
You should never have to learn to hide, deny, or ignore your unresolved trauma all on your own. Left untreated, trauma can negatively impact your physical and mental health for the worse, and can increase your risk of negative consequences like an inability to form deeper relationships and abusing drugs or alcohol as a means to cope with your trauma symptoms.
The primary goal of trauma-informed care is to provide a safe space for patients to work alongside a licensed mental health professional to heal their trauma without retraumatising themselves. This is done through consistent and patient practice and establishing healthy coping strategies so you can work through your trauma and promote a healthier, happier quality of life.
Are you ready to start your road to recovery? At Confluence Behavioral Health, we offer premier mental health treatment in Vermont so patients can improve their mental health and well-being. No more suffering in silence with your mental health disorder. Our compassionate team of mental health professionals are here to provide you with the support you need to transform your life for the better. Contact us today to learn more!
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