Communicating with a trauma-informed lens

Written communication can sometimes come across as uncaring, confusing, or even harsh. In this overview, we talk about why we use a trauma-informed approach in our work and why we think it is so important.

Trauma is a lasting emotional or physical response to a shocking or scary experience. Some examples of different kinds of trauma include:

• Acute trauma: response to a one-time event

• Chronic trauma: response to a series of repeated events over time

• Complex trauma: response to varied traumatic events over time

• Historical/Intergenerational trauma: response to events affecting a family, group, or community, sometimes over long periods of time

• Secondary trauma: response to working closely with others who have experienced trauma (sometimes called compassion fatigue)

Facts about trauma

The well-known CDC + Kaiser Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs study) highlighted the life-long impact of childhood trauma. The study asked participants about 10 childhood experiences that were linked to higher likelihood of challenges in adulthood. About 2 out of 3 people experienced at least one item on the list, and about 1 in 6 adults experienced at least four items on the list.

According to the National Center for PTSD, about 6% of people (a little more than 1 in 20 people) have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) at some point in their lives. Women are more likely than men to experience PTSD, and veterans more likely than civilians.

The impacts of trauma

Some examples of how trauma can affect people:

Body	Mind	Emotions
·    Being easily startled ·    Physical symptoms emotions	·  Memory issues ·  Challenges related to substance use disorders	·   Difficulty managing feelings ·   Distrust or detachment

Applying a trauma-informed lens to everyday communications

Trauma is common. We also know that using plain language means centering our audiences and their needs. So having a trauma-informed approach embedded into our work is just another way of prioritizing people’s needs in everyday communications.

With a trauma-informed approach, we don’t need to know someone’s personal business. We can simply approach all communications with humanity and compassion. Here are 6 common elements core to a trauma-informed practice, as described by SAMHSA and some examples that apply specifically to communications.

Value	Example
Safety	Having clear signs so people know where to go in buildings
Trust + transparency	“Closing the loop” and letting people know what will happen and when. (We will mail you the results in 2 weeks)
Peer support	Creating chances for people to connect in meaningful ways whenever possible.
Collaboration	Encouraging opportunities for people impacted by a process to contribute to its improvement.
Empowerment + choice	Offering choices for how people can engage (you can unmute to ask questions or use the chat box).
Humility + responsiveness	Seeking out feedback and recognizing it is critical for improvement

Reflecting on your work

• How do you create a safe, welcoming space for your community members?

• What are examples of ways your program or your organization already incorporates any of these values into your work?

• Which areas above do you want to learn more about?

Clear Language Lab Cheat Sheets are brief summaries of foundational topics we talk about often at the Clear Language Lab. Questions or errors you want to report? Contact Tiara Whitlock, Program Manager, at tiara@litworks.org.

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