Trauma-informed is not a treatment. It is a way of running a service so that it does not re-injure the people using it.
The underlying claim
A trauma-informed service assumes that a meaningful proportion of the people walking through the door have a trauma history, whether or not it has been disclosed, and designs around that assumption rather than waiting to be told.
What it looks like in practice
- Explaining what will happen before it happens, so nothing is done to a person without warning.
- Offering choice wherever choice is genuinely available, including about who is in the room.
- Asking what happened to someone rather than what is wrong with them.
- Not requiring a person to narrate the event in order to receive help.
- Physical arrangements that reduce feeling trapped: seating, exits, noise.
- Staff who are supported, because a depleted workforce cannot deliver any of the above.
What it is not
It is not trauma-focused therapy, which is a specific clinical treatment delivered by a trained clinician. A service can be trauma-informed and not provide trauma treatment. If you are looking for treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, ask specifically what therapy is offered and by whom.
Where to find it in Singapore
The Institute of Mental Health lists trauma-informed care among its caregiver offerings, including a one-hour awareness talk covering trauma, how it presents in children and young people, and adverse childhood experiences, and a four-hour workshop for parents and caregivers covering integration, healing approaches and recovery.
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