As mental health services increasingly position themselves as providing ‘trauma-informed care’, there is a need for ongoing critical reflection on the challenges that this movement highlights for mental health services, including those related to the concept of trauma itself.
Conclusions:
To become trauma-informed requires opportunities to reflect on what trauma means and consideration of the challenges the concept poses to diagnostically driven systems. Alongside uptake, further debate is required.
HarrisMFallotR.Envisioning a trauma-informed service system: a vital paradigm shift. New directions for mental health services. 2001, pp.3–22. https://doi.org/10.1002/yd.23320018903
3.
YatchmenoffDSundborgSDavisM.Implementing trauma-informed care: recommendations on the process. Adv Social Work2017; 18: 167–185. https://doi.org/10.18060/21311
4.
IsobelSWilsonAGillK, et al. What is needed for trauma informed mental health services in Australia? Perspectives of clinicians and managers. Int J Ment Health Nurs2021; 30: 72–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12811
5.
ButlerLCritelliFRinfretteE.Trauma-informed care and mental health. Dir Psychiatry2011; 31: 197–212.
6.
HopperEBassukEOlivetJ.Shelter from the storm: trauma-informed care in homelessness services settings. Open Health Serv Policy J2010; 3: 80–100. https://doi.org/10.2174/1874924001003020080
7.
WilsonAHutchinsonMHurleyJ.Literature review of trauma-informed care: implications for mental health nurses working in acute inpatient settings in Australia. Int J Ment Health Nurs2017; 26: 326–343. https://doi.org/10.1111/inm.12344
8.
IsobelSDelgadoC.Safe and collaborative communication skills: a step towards mental health nurses implementing trauma informed care. Arch Psychiatr Nurs2018; 32: 291–296. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2017.11.017
9.
IsobelSGladstoneBGoodyearM, et al. A qualitative inquiry into psychiatrists’ perspectives on the relationship of psychological trauma to mental illness and treatment: implications for trauma-informed care. J Ment Health2020; 47: 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/09638237.2020.1714012
10.
IsobelSMcCloughenAFosterK.A frog in boiling water? A qualitative analysis of psychiatrists’ use of metaphor in relation to psychological trauma. Australas Psychiatry2020; 28: 656–659.
11.
MessinaNPScheppsM.Opening the proverbial ‘can of worms’ on trauma-specific treatment in prison: the association of adverse childhood experiences to treatment outcomes. Clin Psychol Psychother2021.
12.
GreyF.Benevolent othering: speaking positively about mental health service users. Philos Psychiatr Psychol2016; 23: 241–251. https://doi.org/10.1353/ppp.2016.0025
IsobelSWilsonAGillK, et al. ‘What would a trauma-informed mental health service look like?’ Perspectives of people who access services. Int J Ment Health Nurs2021; 30(2): 495-505.
17.
V., HiersT.CavenaughS.CusackK.SantosA. (2002). The need for trauma assessment and related clinical services in a state-funded mental health system. Community Mental Health Journal, 38(4),351–356. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015909611028.
