TREES: An Introduction to Trauma-Informed Care and Its Core Principles

This podcast episode introduces the concept of trauma-informed care through the mnemonic device TREES, outlining a structured approach to understanding and addressing the impact of trauma. The host, Dr. Dawn Elise Snipes, emphasizes creating a safe environment for individuals to explore and acknowledge their trauma, highlighting that not everyone who experiences trauma develops a traumatic reaction, but many do. The TREES acronym stands for Trauma Identification, Recognize and Validate, Empower, Empathize, and Support, providing a clear framework for practitioners and individuals alike.

The episode delves into the two broad categories of trauma: abuse or physical/emotional harm, and abandonment/rejection. It explains that when these experiences lead to persistent feelings of unsafeness and helplessness, traumatic reactions can develop. A crucial distinction is made between the initial traumatic event and the subsequent reactions, which often manifest as protective behaviors. The core idea is to help individuals regain a sense of safety, as vulnerability and healing are difficult without it, and to empower them to make informed decisions about their recovery.

Dr. Snipes details common signs of trauma, including avoidance of trauma-related stimuli, persistent negative evaluations of self, others, and the world, negative emotional states (depression, anxiety, anger, mood lability), feelings of detachment, difficulty concentrating, hypervigilance, a heightened startle response, impulsive or self-destructive behaviors, irritability, aggression, and sleep problems. A key nuance is the reinterpretation of these seemingly maladaptive behaviors as often serving a protective function, designed to prevent re-experiencing past pain or threat. Understanding this protective intent is crucial for effective intervention.

Ultimately, the podcast offers a hopeful perspective, asserting that while past trauma cannot be undone, individuals have the agency to choose how those experiences continue to impact their lives. The goal of trauma-informed care is to facilitate this choice, enabling people to use their experiences to become stronger, more informed, and safer, rather than remaining in a state of fear and hypervigilance. The episode underscores that behavior is a form of communication, always making sense within the individual's context, and the therapeutic task is to decipher its underlying protective or helpful purpose.

"the trauma-informed approach means creating an environment that is safe for people to grow to explore and to acknowledge their trauma"

"you can remember the steps in the trauma-informed approach with the mnemonic device trees t stands for trauma identification r stands for recognize and validate e stands for empower e stands for empathize and s stands for support"

"not everybody who experiences trauma develops a traumatic reaction but some people will"

"the first step for anybody is to feel safe until you feel safe it's hard to be vulnerable it's hard to move past that trauma"

"you can't undo something once it's happened but you can choose to either let it make you stronger and use it to make you stronger more informed and safer or continue to stay in a state of fear and hyper vigilance"

"in what ways is this behavior protective when someone does something maybe they tend to get angry really easy or they're in unstable relationships in what ways is that protective"

"when you are hyper vigilant when you are on constant you know scanning for any indication any micro expression of harm rejection or abandonment it's going to be hard to concentrate"

"behavior is communication and behavior makes sense it's just a matter of figuring out what is the behavior trying to communicate and how is it productive or helpful for that person in some kind of way"

"when people have experienced trauma a lot of times it's hard to empathize it's hard to be vulnerable it's hard to develop a connection out of fear that someone else is going to hurt them"

"depression reflects a sense of hopelessness and helplessness anxiety represents a sense of fear that there's a threat and anger is another way of responding to a threat"