Why Should Organizations Care about Trauma?
With an issue this pervasive, why aren't we talking about the impacts of trauma on the workplace and team culture?
According to the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, at least 70% of US Adults self-identify as having one or more traumatic experience in their lifetime. Now add the traumatic experiences of spouses, children, parents, and other loved ones.
Your team is filled with people who are experiencing the impacts of trauma in their life and at work.
The truth is, many of us don't want to talk about our traumatic experiences at work or may not make connections between past trauma and current challenges. And that's perfectly okay! Organizations don't need either to effectively address trauma in the workplace, what they need is Trauma Informed Workplace Cultures.
Trauma informed workplaces create awareness around the existence of trauma, actively avoid retraumatizing survivors of trauma, and creating new traumatic experiences. They DO NOT ever seek to diagnose or treat employee trauma, that should be left to third-party, credentialed professionals.
To build Trauma Informed Workplace cultures, we rely on the seven principles of trauma informed cultures, adapted from the SAMSHA Principles of Trauma Informed Care, to focus specifically on the workplace. These principles help support everyone's success regardless of trauma status.
