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Social Work vocabulary · Practice Approaches

Trauma-informed

Meaning in social work, with examples

adjectiveCommon term

In social work, trauma-informed means: Based on an understanding of how traumatic experiences can affect people's behaviour, trust and health, and organised to avoid causing further harm.

In Turkish: travma bilgili, travmaya duyarlı

How it is used

Used with approach, practice, care and organisation. Trauma-informed services focus on safety, choice, trust, collaboration and empowerment, and ask 'what happened to you?' rather than 'what is wrong with you?'.

Example sentences

  1. A trauma-informed approach helped staff understand why the boy reacted so strongly to raised voices.

  2. All staff at the women's shelter receive trauma-informed training.

Common collocations

  • trauma-informed approach
  • trauma-informed practice
  • trauma-informed care
  • trauma-informed organisation
  • resilienceThe ability to cope with difficulties and recover from them, supported both by personal qualities and by the relationships and resources around a person.
  • person-centredOrganised around the individual's own wishes, needs, values and goals, with the person involved in every decision about their care.
  • strengths-based approachA way of working that starts from what people can do, their skills, relationships and resources, rather than only from their problems.
  • domestic abuseControlling, threatening or violent behaviour between partners, ex-partners or family members, including emotional, financial and physical abuse.

More terms: Practice Approaches

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