Introduce
Families who have experienced trauma or are currently navigating trauma, might struggle to engage with early years settings or support services. Therefore, it is important for practitioners to understand the potential impact of trauma and reflect on how this might inform their approach to engaging families.
Trauma-informed care is a strengths based framework that is grounded in an understanding of and responsiveness to the impact of trauma, that emphasises physical, psychological, and emotional
safety for both providers and survivors, and that creates opportunities for survivors to rebuild a sense of control and empowerment.”
Hopper, Bassuk, & Olivet, 2010
What does this look like in practice?
Image source: Center for Children, Families, and Workforce Development. Trauma-Informed Care & Family Engagement. University of Montana.
Trauma-informed family engagement supports early childhood practitioners to:
- Create trusting relationships with families, grounded in empathy and be attuned to their varied life experiences, as well as parents aspirations and dreams for their children
- Strengthen knowledge and understanding around attachment and co-regulation
- Develop balanced partnerships with families that strengthens trust
- Build families’ resilience and coping skills
Develop
Trauma can show up in various ways for families, such as behavioural outbursts, withdrawal, a lack of trust in professionals, developmental delays or attachment difficulties.
Attachment and trauma are deeply interconnected, especially in the early years of a child’s development. When the attachment process is disrupted or shaped by trauma, it can impact a child’s ability to establish and maintain healthy relationships and can also affect their emotional regulation, self-esteem, and sense of safety.
A trauma-informed approach helps professionals recognise these signs and respond appropriately, without misinterpreting or confusing the behaviours. Instead of viewing a child or parent as “difficult” or “uncooperative,” it reframes these responses as potential coping mechanisms resulting from trauma.
The following video explores the significance of attachment in the early years and what a trauma-informed approach looks like to the Start Well team in Stockport:
Sara Jackson & Julie Pendrill
Additional resources for trauma-informed approaches are available from Trauma Responsive Greater Manchester One example is a video featuring Dr. Danny Taggart, who discusses concepts related to young people that are equally applicable to working with families. He emphasises the importance of partnerships and collaboration with empowerment and choice being key.
Reflect
Stop and Reflect: A trauma-informed approach is not an enormous shift in the way most services operate. It may be more a thoughtful, logical shift for working out how best to intervene to support children and families who have been impacted by trauma.
– How can you use the information related to trauma to connect more effectively with families?
– How can we develop ourselves and each other as practitioners to work with a trauma-informed approach?
– How are families in your setting enabled to participate in decisions about their own support and care?
– How could you work with families and other professionals to recognise the possibility of re-traumatisation, and minimise it as much as possible?