Trauma Informed Approaches Toolkit
Source: Chemonics | Year: 2023
A trauma-informed approach (TIA) to international development recognizes and addresses the potential for trauma and its effects on individuals and communities within development programs, ensuring that interventions are sensitive and responsive to any potentially existing trauma. TIA is based on an understanding of the experiences of trauma survivors, including the prevalence and physical, social, and emotional impact, and prioritizes restoring the survivor’s feelings of safety, choice, and control.
Incorporating TIA in international development leads to more effective, equitable, and sustainable interventions that promote healing, empowerment, and positive social change. Bilateral and multilateral donors include MHPSS as a crosscutting issue relevant to all development contexts and commit resources to improving staff capacity and integration of MHPSS interventions across all sectors and programs at each stage. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC),7 WHO, USAID, and other leading humanitarian and development agencies find that addressing mental health needs during and after crises provides opportunities to introduce mental health activities that can be scaled up to integrated, locally sustained MHPSS systems.8 The United Nations includes mental health in target 3.4 of in Sustainable Development Goal 3 on Good Health and Well-Being (SDG 3).
Importantly, incorporating TIA benefits everyone, regardless of their mental well-being and experience with traumatic incidents. While trauma-informed actions are especially important for those who have lived experience with trauma, TIA prioritizes safety, transparency, choice, and empowerment, which are beneficial to all stakeholders. Incorporating organizational and programmatic commitments to operationalize a commitment to mental health is a best practice to reap the highest benefits.
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