What Is Trauma-Informed Therapy?
Queer, trans, and nonbinary people experience higher rates of trauma than cis-het people. We also face LGBTQ-specific traumas. That's why LGBTQ+ people having a trauma-informed therapist is especially important. But what does it mean when a therapist says they are trauma-informed?
Trauma-informed therapy includes the principles of safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment. Trauma-informed therapy refers to the way your therapist interacts with you, regardless of the type of therapy provided. This means that any type of therapy you seek out can be trauma-informed. Knowing this, let’s take a closer look at what makes something trauma-informed therapy.
5 Elements of Trauma-Informed Therapy
Safety
Safety refers to both physical and emotional safety. Is the therapist providing private, judgement-free therapy? Is the therapist licensed and accountable to a licensing board? If they are pre-licensed, did they tell you who their supervisor is? These are important pieces of information so that you can know who to reach out do about grievances, if necessary. Is the therapist multiculturally trained so that you don’t experience countless microaggressions in therapy? Are your names and pronouns respected? All these provide the foundations of emotional and physical safety for your trauma recovery.
Trustworthiness
A trauma-informed therapist understands that you build trust over time. They don't expect you to open up right away and trust them just because they are a therapist. They also show you they are trustworthy through their actions. Ask yourself, does my therapist do what they say they’ll do? This is one way they can build your trust. For example, do they follow through when they say they will email you some information after session? Can you trust them to be available when they say they are available? Or are they regularly cancelling or no-showing appointments on you? Does the therapist respect boundaries (their own boundaries and yours)? Having a therapist who honors boundaries helps you have a sense of predictability and trust with them.
Choice
Trauma often robs you of choice, and thus it is critical to reclaim choices in your life when recovering from trauma. This should be the case in therapy as well. Does your therapist provide opportunities for you to choose, instead of them making the choices for you. For example, if you are struggling with a life decision, does the therapist choose for you? Or do they respect your agency and trust you to make decisions for yourself? Do they honor your choices when it comes to the therapy itself? This could be that they allow you to choose the focus of therapy, respect you choosing to work with a different provider, etc.
Collaboration
What is the working relationship like with your therapist? It should be a collaborative one. Does it feel like they are alongside you in the therapy process, instead of positioning themselves as an expert who provides therapy TO you? In trauma-informed therapy there should be many forms of power sharing between you and your therapist. For example, do they work with you to develop goals of therapy? Or are they constructing your therapy goals for you and not even telling you what those goals are? Do they elicit and welcome your feedback on how therapy is going? Having a transparent and collaborative approach allows you to have an active part in your healing.
Empowerment
Last but not least, a trauma-informed therapist is one who empowers you. This means they see your strengths and nurture them. They show a sense of realistic optimism for you and your healing, even when it’s hard for you to be optimistic for yourself.
If you're looking for trauma-informed therapy in Minneapolis, feel free to reach out to me. I provide online therapy to LGBTQ+ folks located in Minnesota.
This blog is informed by the following article:
Fallot, R.D., & Harris, M. (2009). Creating cultures of trauma-informed care (CCTIC): A self-assessment and planning protocol. Washington, DC: Community Connections.
