A significant chunk of the population has gone through a traumatic experience in their lives – it has become the norm and no longer the exception. Because of this, awareness efforts from different sectors of society are being instigated and one of the most effective approach to this is trauma-informed care and response.

Denise Beagley from Arizona State University’s Center for Applied Behavioral Health Policy joins Justice Clearinghouse on this course to discuss trauma-informed practices for justice professionals. Denise is the Manager for Clinical Initiatives and Training for ASU and is a part-time Crisis Intervention Specialist for Chandler Fire, Health and Medical. She specializes in the intersection of criminal justice and psychology.

Areas that Denise covered in this session include:

• What trauma is and the elements that comprise and give rise to trauma.
• Why we must assume that everyone has trauma and understanding it as the missing piece that stands in the way to full recovery.
• The various ways people think of trauma and respond to the danger that could potentially create or trigger it.
• How trauma can be a one-time occurrence, a prolonged ongoing event, or historical where it is passed down through generations
• Recognizing the different signs and symptoms of trauma that may manifest in individuals.
• The importance of communication and talking about the experience to reduce the impact of trauma.
• History, current conditions, and other characteristics of trauma that influence our response to it.
• Facts and figures that point out the prevalence of trauma in today’s society.
• Sociodemographic factors that put individuals at a greater risk of trauma.
• The lack of trauma awareness which leads to an inability to recognize its effects in our lives.
• The most common sources of traumatic stress and its effects.
• Common mental health conditions, behavioral concerns, cognitive issues, physical health responses, and other reactions individuals may have related to trauma.
• Understanding how trauma triggers work.
• The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) research, its scope and methodology, the questionnaire used for the study, updates to the research, and the findings that correlate ACEs to future outcomes.
• Trauma-informed interventions and approaches to implement in interactions through simple verbatim changes and paradigm shift.
• Awareness of compassion fatigue and investing in self-care to overcome trauma.
• Denise clarified concerns raised by the webinar attendees on:
  • The meaning of vicarious and historical trauma.
  • The sources of the videos shown on the webinar.
  • Statistics of women versus men experiencing trauma.
  • How trauma can inhibit emotional intelligence development.
  • Recognizing the triggers, signs and symptoms that might be overlooked.

Audience Comments:

• “Very informative, and useful reminders for helping others -doing no harm or adding no new trauma.” –Devorrah
• “Very informative and well put together to make it easy to understand. I especially enjoyed the handouts! Thank you!” –Jessica
• “This could easily have been a two-part series or a longer training because it’s such an important topic with so many facets. I enjoyed it, and the presenter. Thank you!” –Micheala
• “Just an understanding of trauma and what that can look like with the young people that I service. Great Job!” –Christina
• “I’m a numbers kind of person and really enjoyed being able to look at the actual statistics of individuals who have experienced trauma. I’d also never heard of ACE before and found it fascinating.” –Jennifer
• “I loved the common sense approach of how we often get jaded when it comes to trying to understand the underlying causes of repeated poor behavior.” –Sharon