Trauma-informed care reduces triggers

EUGENE, Ore. – “Trauma-informed care” is a broad term, but the core meaning is to make everyone involved feel safe, empowered and valued.

“On a fundamental level, providing trauma-informed care is really recognizing that an individual has, more likely than not, had a history of trauma. Our objective in providing care is to prevent retraumatization by reducing triggers,” said Tim Black, director of consulting at the nonprofit White Bird Clinic in Eugene.

White Bird was founded in 1969 by a collective of like-minded activists, medics and social workers.

When Black joined the clinic, a popular phrase was “meet people where they’re at.” When White Bird staff meets someone in crisis sitting down, they squat. They ask how they can support the person, applying the phrase in both a literal and figurative sense.

The organization’s 31-year-old mobile crisis-response program CAHOOTS – a unique marriage of police resources and counterculture philosophies – makes headlines as municipalities seek alternatives to traditional policing.

Oregon lawmakers are considering House Bill 2417, inspired by the program, which would authorize the Department of Human Services to provide 50% matching grants to cities or counties to create and run their own mobile crisis intervention programs with $10 million from the state’s general fund.

“Just the simple fact of having CAHOOTS as a resource within our larger public safety infrastructure here in Eugene and Springfield is really evidence of how there is strong momentum for trauma-informed care within our public safety system,” Black said.

In 2018, when Amanda Donofrio began working as the lead architect on the Commons on MLK, a 51-unit public housing project, there was little to no literature on what trauma-informed design looked like.

Donofrio was tasked with understanding how trauma-informed care could influence a building.

In design terms, this meant providing clear walkways, stairwells with natural light that were never dark, easy-to-find exits, quiet spaces, calming color schemes, access to nature and large windows in shared spaces, among many other features.

“The design strategies are not radical, they’re thoughtful, it’s really about understanding the mental health impacts of your design decisions,” Donofrio said.

It can be expensive to design complexes through a trauma-informed lens, but it’s worth it, she said.

Donofrio works with Home For Good on the Nel, a permanent supportive housing community for people who have been homeless that will begin construction in early May in Eugene.

“Like any good research, your work should never really be done, and just because we’ve done one project that applied these principles, it doesn’t mean that we’re done, or we’re experts,” Donofrio said. “The idea of knowledge is that now I’ve contributed to it, and somebody else is going to be able to go out there and learn from what I’ve done, and take that knowledge and share it back.”

Trauma-informed care can be a moving target, some advocates said.

“You’re never going to be fully trauma-informed because everyone has different trauma, things that have happened to them that can trigger them,” said Brittiny Raine, co-founder of CORE. “It’s more of a journey.”

CORE, or Community Outreach through Radical Empowerment, started in 2017. In 2019, staff set out to do just that through a program that offers free hot meals and supplies every other Friday to homeless youth at a bar and coffee shop in downtown Eugene.

CORE’s street outreach team distributed hundreds of condoms, naloxone, first-aid kits, meals, socks and face masks to people experiencing homelessness.

Raine said CORE uses trauma-informed care as an influence in all its programs, adjusting according to the needs and input of clients.

“We ask young people what they’re missing in their community,” Raine said.

Raine was homeless in Seattle from age 12 to 17. When she didn’t feel ignored, she felt patronized and harassed. She uses her experience to provide something better for kids in a similar situation.

Trauma-informed care workers ask people what happened to them instead of what’s wrong with them.

“I think if adults would have treated me that way, I probably would have been more likely to open up to them,” Raine said.