Abstract
Key points
• Past experience can have an impact on present-day functioning (although the nature of this connection is rarely direct or inevitable). Increasingly, this relationship between past and present is understood through a lens of trauma.
• The concept of trauma has become a major driver of Scottish public policy, with Scottish Government guidance stating that all social care and related practice should be understood and responded to through a trauma lens.
• Although it has become such a dominant feature of policy, professional practice and everyday talk, the concept of trauma remains ill-defined.
• Trauma-informed (TI) care offers little that any model of good social care should offer, and the evidence base for trauma-informed practice is, at best, inconclusive.
• There is a risk that a predominant focus on trauma may construct the kind of psychological conditions it professes to respond to.
• Social workers and social care workers need to demonstrate a sensitive appreciation of the possible impact of past experience on individuals, which requires a broad range of knowledge and dispositions. A primary focus on trauma in service delivery can limit alternative ways of thinking and practising.
• Past experience can have an impact on present-day functioning (although the nature of this connection is rarely direct or inevitable). Increasingly, this relationship between past and present is understood through a lens of trauma.
• The concept of trauma has become a major driver of Scottish public policy, with Scottish Government guidance stating that all social care and related practice should be understood and responded to through a trauma lens.
• Although it has become such a dominant feature of policy, professional practice and everyday talk, the concept of trauma remains ill-defined.
• Trauma-informed (TI) care offers little that any model of good social care should offer, and the evidence base for trauma-informed practice is, at best, inconclusive.
• There is a risk that a predominant focus on trauma may construct the kind of psychological conditions it professes to respond to.
• Social workers and social care workers need to demonstrate a sensitive appreciation of the possible impact of past experience on individuals, which requires a broad range of knowledge and dispositions. A primary focus on trauma in service delivery can limit alternative ways of thinking and practising.
Original language | English |
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Pages | 1-24 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Specialist publication | Insights |
Publisher | Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services |
Publication status | Published - 8 Mar 2023 |
Keywords
- Trauma-Informed
- Social Work
- Social Care
- Trauma