Introduce
Supporting children to thrive can be challenging when their families have experienced trauma because trauma often impacts emotional stability, relationships, and the ability to provide consistency. Parents may struggle with their own mental health, creating barriers to forming secure attachments and responding to their child’s needs. Additionally, trauma can affect communication and trust within the family, making it harder to establish the supportive and nurturing environment for the child to thrive.
Psychological trauma has been defined as:
“an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individuals functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional or spiritual wellbeing”
SAMSHA, 2014
Implementing trauma-informed care is important in both the prenatal and postnatal periods. These are times that are highly sensitive and formative for both the parent and the baby. All staff can play a part in trauma-informed care to ensure that parents and their families feel safe and secure. A trauma responsive workforce aim to promote feelings of psychological safety, choice, and control.
Develop
There are many different events and experiences that can be associated with trauma during this period, such as:
- birth trauma
- Adverse Childhood Experiences
- previous perinatal loss
- sexual abuse
‘A good practice guide to support implementation of trauma-informed care in the perinatal period’ highlights how staff might approach trauma-informed care:
Image source: Law, C., Wolfenden, L., Sperlich, M. and Taylor, J. (2021) Trauma-informed care in the perinatal period. Blackpool: The Centre for Early Child Development, with support from the University of Birmingham and University at Buffalo. Commissioned by NHS England and NHS Improvement.
Applying these principles offers an opportunity to enhance the experiences of care for women and their families by minimising the potential of emotional harm and supporting wellbeing. This is achieved by developing trusting, respectful, and collaborative relationships between individuals and practitioners, which, in turn, positively impacts the baby and their development.
Reflect
Stop and Reflect: The following questions help you consider how you might provide trauma-responsive care in the pre-birth and early years period:
– What do you know about this parent’s past experiences, and how might trauma be influencing their pregnancy and early parenting?
– How might you create a sense of emotional and physical safety for the parents during interactions?
– How might you adapt your approach to ensure sensitivity to past trauma?
Optional
NHS England has developed the following good practice guide to support the implementation of trauma-informed care in the perinatal period. This guide includes video resources that provide practical insights into delivering trauma-informed care during pregnancy and after childbirth.
Insight 4: Trauma-Informed Practice, explores how understanding and addressing trauma can improve outcomes for children, families, and communities. This resource provides practical guidance, evidence-based strategies, and real-world examples to help practitioners embed trauma-informed principles into their work, ultimately fostering resilience and wellbeing for those they support.