Disrupt the Ripple Effects of Trauma

It is critical to build responsive environments and services that support people’s well-being and do not replicate oppression people experience. We can start by recognizing and disrupting the ripple effects of trauma in our organizations and communities.

There is the potential to either mitigate or exacerbate the effects of trauma exposure in our organizations and communities which can become trauma-organized and as a result people often feel unsafe. 

We can unintentionally begin to create what is called a “parallel process” that is not so useful, where individuals, groups or organizations begin to develop similar ways of thinking and behaving. For example, we may show signs of feeling unsafe, feeling helpless or stuck, or overwhelmed across staff, organizations, and the people we serve.

This can impact our ability to do our work and support people, and may even re-traumatize the people that we are trying to help. 

We can interrupt this and create a more useful parallel process that is strengths-based and creates a space for our collective reflection and collaborative learning. This helps to re-organize the organization or system with more trauma-informed responses. Click here to dive deeper into trauma-informed responses.

Sources:

1. Figures - Bloom & Farragher (2013). Restoring Sanctuary: A new operating system for trauma-informed systems of care. Oxford University Press, New York City. You can learn more about the Sanctuary Model here - https://www.thesanctuaryinstitute.org/about-us/the-sanctuary-model/.

Module Purpose | Secondary Trauma | Recognize Empathic Distress | Move into Compassionate Action | Disrupt Ripples of Trauma | Create Empowering Learning | Strengthen Calming Responses | Build Solidarity | Center Ethics | Expand Circle of Belonging | Acknowledgements