Learning Series

More Than a Buzzword- Is Your Organization Trauma Informed?

January 17, 2025

So we say we are trauma informed- what evidence do we have that our organization is actually putting it into practice?

In some fields, trauma-informed has become a buzzword- we may see it mentioned as a guiding framework before the beginning of films, social service programs, government consultations, and corporate responsibility initiatives.

In other fields, it has yet to be put into practice.

But what is it, and are we really doing it?

Referencing Chapter 2 and 4 of the Trauma Informed Framework we developed for the City of Surrey, let’s explore some fundamentals.


Foundations of Trauma Informed Practice

From childhood adversity to workplace stress, we can carry all kinds of trauma—personal loss, environmental disasters, systemic violence, or the daily pressures of high-stakes work environments—impacting how we show up in every aspect of our lives.

Trauma Informed Practice (TIP) is a strengths-based approach that helps us understand and respond to the impact of trauma.

  • It’s an orientation shift in how we provide services, interact with Clients, and lead organizations that increases the safety, choice, and control for individuals who have experienced trauma.
  • It creates opportunities for Survivors of trauma to rebuild a sense of control, connection, and empowerment.
  • It requires an intersectional approach by making connections between trauma and other dynamics, such as migration experiences, colonization, substance use, gender, and systemic racism.
  • It’s not something we do to people- it’s how we show up in relationship

Trauma informed practice asks- are we safe? Are we effective? Are we caring? Are we responsive to people’s needs? Are our services/organizations well led?

Example: A Law Firm Supporting Folks from Marginalized and Targeted Communities

A trauma-informed law firm could integrate safety, choice, and empowerment into every client interaction by prioritizing clear communication, flexible legal processes, and collaborative decision-making. Lawyers receive training on how trauma intersects with factors like migration, colonization, substance use, gender, and systemic racism, ensuring a holistic approach. Clients set the pace of their case, with options for remote consultations, trauma-sensitive meeting spaces, and culturally appropriate legal support.

In some settings, Trauma-Specific Practice (TSP) is more suitable, offering specialized services and interventions tailored to the unique needs of individuals who have experienced particular types of trauma. Examples include counseling practices, criminal diversion programs, or mental health healing circles, each designed to address the specific challenges related to the trauma survivors face


Trauma Informed Values

There are many values that are engaged in Trauma Informed Practice, and here’s an example of a few:

VALUEDESCRIPTION
AwarenessAwareness in an organization of trauma experiences, understanding how trauma impacts development.
Safety & TrustworthinessSafety is intentionally integrated in organizational practices. Organizations and leaders are transparent and consistent.
Choice, Collaboration, and ConnectionThe organization works collaboratively with those impacted by trauma to increase choice and connection. The organization regularly evaluates processes to grow and improve grounded in lived experiences.
Strengths-Based & Skill BuildingOrganizations engage strengths-based approaches to skill building, supporting self regulation and resiliency.

Alternatively, David Treleavens’ Four R’s Model provides an easy to recall method for applying trauma informed practice, grounded in a strengths-based, reciprocal approach:

  • Realize: The presence of trauma individually and collectively, AND the presence of strength and resilience individually and collectively
  • Recognize: How trauma directly and indirectly affects others AND how Survivors bring to the forefront their inner strength and collective growth
  • Respond: By putting our knowledge into practice AND learning from communities promoting safety and wellness
  • Resist: Retraumatizing others by drawing from community resiliency, healing and grounding tools, and collective wisdom within communities


Strengths-Based Practice

Let’s look closer at one of the TIP values, and grow our toolbox of reference models.

A strengths-based approach in trauma informed practice intentionally focuses on hope and finding every opportunity to authentically affirm individual and community strengths, such as resourcefulness, courage, and resilience. Think of it like taking in the whole of the tree, including the unseen roots, in the image above.

  • It considers the miracle of surviving hardship, living with trauma, and the strength it takes to live within oppressive systems and power imbalances.
  • Instead of focusing on problems, we identify and validate strengths that help build control and an appreciative mindset for what brought us to this place.

As strengths-based practitioners, we believe:

  • Our words and language matter.
  • We can create shared language with others that is empowering and helpful.
  • Those experiencing distress best respond to compassion and respect.
  • When we focus on strength and resilience, we build appreciation, optimism, and understanding.
  • Life and our world is ever evolving. We embrace change and the capacity for growth.
  • Everyone has a uniqueness that helps them evolve and move along their journey. This is made up of attitudes, capacities, rights, personality, and much more.
  • It is our goal to illuminate, expose, and nurture strengths.
  • We choose to see others at their best and how their unique strengths have helped them survive and pursue healing.
  • Survivors are creating and rebuilding, not broken or failing.

A strengths-based approach in trauma informed practice centres people and communities as the experts of their journeys and healing, and aligns our roles as coaches, guides, and supports, not saviors.

  • An example of a strengths-based approach that can be applied to our projects and organizations is the work of Jan and Cornelia Flora’s Community Capital Framework.
  • This framework encourages us to examine the various elements, resources, and relationships within a community, identifying what we currently have, and what we can invest in and grow.

A municipal government organization addressing community safety could apply the Community Capitals Framework by integrating human capital through training and mental health support, social capital via neighborhood watch programs, and political capital to advocate for equitable safety policies. Investing in built capital like better lighting and secure public spaces, promoting cultural capital through inclusivity, and maintaining natural capital with accessible green areas can collectively create a safer, more resilient community.


Trauma Informed Communication

Have you ever gone through something difficult, such as a personal hardship at home, and someone at work hastily says” it’ll be ok, you’ll be ok!”. Did that feel good?

Usually, no. A false platitude in a time of hardship is not helpful, and could even cause more harm.

Trauma informed communication assumes the potential for the presence of trauma while practicing truthfulness, respect, awareness, and creating space for voice and choice.

  1. Truthfulness: Communicate what you are doing and why you are doing it. Resist making false promises and comforting through false platitudes.
  2. Respectful: Be respectful of other’s life experiences. Engage a perspective of “what has happened to you?” versus “what is wrong with you?”
  3. Awareness: Speak with a controlled voice that is consistent, and body language that is open (such as unfolded arms and legs).
  4. Voice and Choice: Invoke a sense of calm by expressing kindness and patience (such as applying gentle eye contact, not interrupting, taking a moment after someone speaks to reflect on what they say). Provide opportunities for others to share, ask open-ended questions, and give options to choose from. Include participants or team members in care planning and processes that impact them.

Example: A Corporation Whose Team Members Impacted by Local Wildfires


A trauma-informed corporation could support team members impacted by local wildfires through transparent communication, respectful engagement, and consistent messaging. Leaders provide clear updates without false reassurances, acknowledge individual experiences with empathy, and maintain a calm, steady tone. Employees are given choices in how they receive support, including flexible work options and involvement in recovery planning.

A tool that is helpful in growing our trauma informed communication skills is OARS: Open-Ended Questions, Affirmations, Reflective Listening, Summaries.

  • Open Ended Questions: Asking open ended questions moves past “yes” and “no” answers and provides an invitation for others to share.
    • Examples include: What do you need from us to participate in our services/workplace? How can we support you to succeed? How have you managed to cope with stress so far? What helps you feel safe when stressed?

  • Affirmations: Giving genuine, authentic, specific, and relevant affirmations that encourage effort and strength in others. Affirmations offer appreciation and understanding and recognize the successes that person or community has had that have brought them to this moment.
    • Examples include: Your ability to navigate these challenges so far in life is remarkable. You have incredible strength within. You are more than a victim. By being here today, you have survived, and each day are walking your own path of surviving to thriving one step at a time.

  • Reflective Listening and Summaries: Listening carefully by following the thoughts and feelings of others and seeking to understand from their perspective. Reflective listening involves both attending skills, where we non-verbally communicate we are empathizing with them (such as our eye contact, gestures, interested silence, posture, softness of facial expression), and reflective skills (where we respond to and summarize our understanding of someone’s experience).
    • Reflective listening isn’t just automatic feedback. It can look like taking a pause after someone speaks and letting them know you are thinking about what they said or validating what they said.
    • Examples include: I hear you. Thank you for trusting me to share that. I see your point. I don’t understand exactly what you’ve been through, but I deeply connect with what you shared and how you shared it.


Culturally Competent & Humble Trauma Informed Practice

Cultural competence in trauma informed practice requires an application of values, behaviours, attitudes, and practices that enables practitioners to work effectively across cultures. We’ll explore why this is paramount in our Learning Series 3 on understanding trauma within the frame of racial trauma, critical race theory, institutional betrayal, and DARVO.

  • Cultural competence honours and respects the beliefs, language, interpersonal styles and behaviours of individuals and communities we interact with.
  • It starts with developing cultural awareness of our own worldviews, cultural norms, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours, asking “what are my culture(s) and how do they influence the way I view and interact with others?”
  • It grows by examining our personal biases, stereotypes, and prejudices, and how those impact interactions with the people we serve in our organizations.

Cultural competence shows up in our TIP practice through:

  • Being comfortable not knowing everything, and balancing what we know about ourselves and learning from other communities and lived experiences.
  • Practicing curiosity about other cultures and understandings, reading and engaging with existing materials and resources from varying communities, attending courses and workshops, attending and supporting cultural events and festivals.
  • Establishing trusting relationships with community members and inviting input into your practice.

Building cultural competence helps us grow our cultural humility. As described by Melanie Tervalon and Jann Murray-Garcia, it’s is a lifelong commitment to self-evaluation, fostering an other-oriented approach to cultural competency.

  • It holds systems accountable, addresses power imbalances, and supports partnerships with advocates.
  • By prioritizing collective needs and enhancing cross-cultural communication, it strengthens relationships with diverse individuals, families, and communities. Examples include;


Trauma Informed Practice in Action

How can we tell if trauma-informed practice is more than just a buzzword and is truly being implemented in an organization? A few key indicators can help us recognize it in action:

  • There’s an organization-wide realization of how trauma affects people.
  • We develop the ability to recognize potential signs of trauma and trauma activation.
  • We engage a systems-wide approach that informs behavior, language, programs, and policies.
  • We participate in active resistance/de-construction of re-traumatizing processes and approaches.
  • Survivors living with trauma feel respected, heard, safe, included, and capable.

Additionally, we see a shift in language around trauma, from a deficit-based to an asset-based framing that is person and community centric. Some examples that may be helpful (depending on your area of work) include:

In our next Learning Series, we will explore From Wounds to Wisdom: Understanding Trauma and Recovery.

A great resource to dig deeper into these concepts are Chapter 2 and 4 of the Trauma Informed Framework we developed for the City of Surrey. Additionally, check out our references below for a fullsome list of that informed this learning post, and hyperlinks to works referenced in post.


Grow Your Organizational Toolbelt with Trauma Informed Practice

At the Maxwell Consulting Group, we specialize in delivering customized trauma-informed practice (TIP) training for diverse industries, including Fortune 500 companies, law enforcement agencies, and Indigenous Nations. Our training is rooted in practical, real-world application—empowering your team with the language, tools, and confidence to integrate TIP effectively, all facilitated by seasoned practitioners and therapists.

  • With over 200 trainings delivered, we bring deep expertise to every session and customize to your field and the challenges your teams are facing.
  • In 2023, we were contracted by the City of Surrey to develop their Trauma-Informed Framework, a foundational guide that unpacks the effects of trauma and offers actionable strategies for implementing TIP. Whether you’re in law enforcement, healthcare, tech, finance, or filmmaking, this free guide is a resource for meaningful, effective change. Access it here: City of Surrey Trauma-Informed Framework.

By embedding TIP into your workplace culture, you can build resilience, foster trust, and position your organization as a leader in systemic change. Let us help you turn this vision into action.

Contact us today to explore our tailored training programs and consulting services- Maxwell Consulting Group Contact Link.

References

BC Centre for Disease Control. (2020). BCCDC COVID-19 language guide: Guidelines for inclusive language for written and digital content. http://www.bccdc.ca/Health-InfoSite/Documents/Language-guide.pdf

BC Provincial Mental Health and Substance Use Planning Council. (2013). Trauma-informed practice guide. https://cewh.ca/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/2013_TIP-Guide.pdf

BC Provincial Mental Health and Substance Use Services. (n.d.). Trauma-informed practice. Provincial Health Services Authority. http://www.bcmhsus.ca/healthprofessionals/clinical-professional-resources/trauma-informed-practice

Belfi, E. & Sandiford, N. (2021). Decolonization Series Part 1: Exploring Decolonization. In S. Brandauer and E. Hartman (Eds.). Interdependence: Global Solidarity and Local Actions. The Community-based Global Learning Collaborative. https://www.cbglcollab.org/what-is-decolonization-why-is-it-important

Center for Health Care Strategies. (2021). What is trauma-informed care? Trauma-Informed Care Implementation Resource Center. https://www.traumainformedcare.chcs.org/what-is-trauma-informed-care

Chazdon, S., Emery, M., Hansen, D., Higgins, L., & Sero, R. (2017). A field guide to ripple effects mapping. University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing. https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/190639

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. (2021). What is culturally-sensitive trauma-informed care? Health Care Toolbox. https://www.healthcaretoolbox.org/culturally-sensitive-traumainformed-care

Covington, S. (2016). Becoming trauma informed: Tool kit for women’s community service providers. One Small Thing. https://www.mappingthemaze.org.uk/wp/wpcontent/uploads/2017/08/Covington-Trauma-toolkit.pdf

DeCandia, C.J., Guarino, K., & Clervil, R. (2014). Trauma-informed care and trauma-specific services: A comprehensive approach to trauma intervention. American Institutes for Research. https://nicic.gov/resources/nic-library/all-library-items/trauma-informed-careand-trauma-specific-services

Katz, N., & McNulty, K. (1994). Reflective listening. www.maxwell.syr.edu/docs/defaultsource/ektron-files/reflective-listening-neil-katz-and-kevinmcnulty.pdf?sfvrsn=f1fa6672_7

Manitoba Trauma Information and Education Centre. (2013). Trauma informed: The trauma toolkit, second edition. https://trauma-informed.ca/wpcontent/uploads/2013/10/Trauma-informed_Toolkit.pdf

Mattos, D. (2015). Community capitals framework as a measure of community development. In Cornhusker Economics: Agricultural Economics, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln. https://inclusion.uoregon.edu/distinguishing-cultural-humility-cultural-competence

National Center on Domestic Violence, Trauma, & Mental Health. (2014). How you write is as important as what you say: A guide to trauma-informed writing. https://www.nationalcenterdvtraumamh.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/NCDVTMHTI-Writing-Guide-FINAL-Aug27.pdf

National Center on Safe Supportive Learning Environments. (n.d.). Understanding trauma and its impact activity packet. https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/sites/default/files/Trauma_101_Activity_Packet.pdf

Poole, N., Talbot, C., & Nathoo, T. (2017). Helping families, helping systems: A trauma-informed practice guide for working with children, youth and families. Ministry of Child and Family Development. https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/child-teen-mentalhealth/trauma-informed_practice_guide.pdf

Project READY. (n.d.). Module 8: Cultural competence & cultural humility. In Project READY: Reimagining Equity & Access for Diverse Youth. https://ready.web.unc.edu/section-1foundations/module-8/

Raypole. (2021). A savior no one needs: Unpacking and overcoming the white savior complex. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/white-saviorism

Robinson, D., Masters, C., & Ansari, A. (2020). The 5 R’s of cultural humility: A conceptual model for health care leaders. American Journal of Medicine, 124(2), 161-163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amjmed.2020.09.029

Rossiter, K., Dhillon, M., Porteous, T., Pastran, X.H., & Fischer, O. (2020). Community-based anti-violence worker wellness: A review of the literature and recommendations for the office of the federal ombudsperson for victims of crime. Office of the Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime. https://www.victimsfirst.gc.ca/res/cor/CBAVMTCV/index.html

Stark County Mental Health & Addiction Recovery. (2019). Section #11: Cultural perspectives on trauma (presentation). https://starkmhar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/CulturalPerspectives-on-Trauma.pdf

Stoerkel, E. (2019). What is a strengths-based approach? (Incl. examples & tools). Positive Psychology. https://positivepsychology.com/strengths-based-interventions/

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2014). SAMHSA’s concept of trauma and guidance for a trauma-informed approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 144884. Rockville, MD. https://store.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/d7/priv/sma144884.pdf

Taylor, J., & Shrive, J. (2023). Indicative trauma impact manual: ITIM for professionals: A nondiagnostic, trauma-informed guide to emotion, thought, and behaviour. VictimFocus Ltd.

Therapist Aid. (2018). Coping skills: Anxiety. https://www.therapistaid.com/therapyworksheet/coping-skills-anxiety

University of Oregon. (n.d.). Distinguishing cultural humility from cultural competence. Division of Equity and Inclusion. https://inclusion.uoregon.edu/distinguishing-cultural-humilitycultural-competence

White, T., & Ryder, G. (2022). How critical race theory may help inform trauma-sensitive teaching. Psych Central. https://psychcentral.com/health/critical-race-theory-andtrauma-informed-care-in-schools

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Larissa Maxwell

Larissa Maxwell is the CEO and Principal Consultant of The Maxwell Consulting Group, and an avid reader, researcher, and creative explorer.

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