Dr Sarah BoutrosSurvivors of modern slavery human trafficking (MSHT) often experience many layers of trauma – before, during, and after their exploitation. Our understanding of trauma and how it impacts individuals is growing, and there is now increasing scientific understanding of stress and trauma responses. These are powerful biological responses to threat, fear and powerlessness and anything that may threaten our life. These responses aim to keep people alive in the face of adversity, but potentially at significant cost to whole-person health and well-being. From this understanding of stress and trauma science, the concept of trauma-informed care has emerged.
This has been defined as “a strengths based framework that is grounded in an understanding of – and responsiveness to – the impact of trauma, that emphasises physical, psychological, and emotional safety for both providers and survivors, and that creates opportunities for survivors to rebuild a sense of control and empowerment”.
But what does this mean for practitioners, services, and systems working with victims and survivors of MSHT? It means individuals working with victims and survivors having real intentionality in each encounter with survivors, building on their understanding of trauma science and how trauma manifests itself in people’s bodies, behaviours, emotions and responding in ways that avoid further re-traumatisation.
This is not just about nice soothing and quiet spaces. Trauma-informed care means building relationships based on trust and collaboration with survivors. It means finding ways to get to know survivors as human beings and not just victims, finding out about their strengths, their likes and dislikes, and going at their pace. It’s about taking the time needed to build that relationship of trust, not pushing for full disclosures before survivors are ready to share. It means letting go of our agendas (as much as possible) when meeting survivors and really listening to what they have to say and what they want out of the relationship. It means giving choices whenever possible and making decisions collaboratively. It also means addressing survivors’ needs as they emerge, without promising things that we cannot deliver. Indeed, we shouldn’t expect survivors to fully engage with trauma-focused therapy if their daily life remains highly insecure with unstable housing or if they have unaddressed health concerns.
For this to work effectively, organisations and systems need to incorporate trauma-informed care principles in their practices, ensuring that every part of the system works to really support and empower survivors in their road to recovery. This is not up to individual practitioners alone, but rather a whole systems approach. Importantly, by really incorporating trauma-informed care into organisations and systems, practitioners can feel supported and vicarious trauma can be reduced or prevented.