Abstract

This paper describes a six-month learning collaborative for service providers seeking to implement trauma-informed care (TIC) into their agencies. Although the professional literature on trauma-informed care has grown substantially over the past 10 years, little research has focused on how to effectively train agencies in creating a trauma-informed culture shift. Participants were trained as “TIC champions” to help facilitate the creation of trauma-informed approaches in their agencies. Through a parallel process, they learned the skills for planning and implementing a trauma-informed approach in their agency. At the completion of the training, trainers observed champions becoming more confident in their ability to assist their agencies in creating a trauma-informed culture shift. Though quantitative studies evaluating the learning collaborative are needed, initial findings suggest the collaborative approach is an effective means of guiding champions through the process of becoming trauma-informed.

Highlights

  • This paper describes a six-month learning collaborative for service providers seeking to implement trauma-informed care (TIC) into their agencies

  • The collaborative was developed based on the need to create sustainable trauma-informed organizational change and the literature supporting the use of longitudinal TIC training

  • After reconvening as a big group, the champions learned about the steps for creating trauma-informed culture change in human service programs, completed the “TraumaInformed Care in Youth Serving Settings: Organizational Self Assessment” (Traumatic Stress Institute of Klingberg Family Centers, n.d.) as an activity to demonstrate the various components of trauma-informed organizational change, and were given an overview of the ten implementation domains proposed by SAMHSA (2014a)

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Summary

The Learning Collaborative

An interactive learning collaborative model was created in order to train “TIC champions” over a six-month period. The collaborative was developed based on the need to create sustainable trauma-informed organizational change and the literature supporting the use of longitudinal TIC training. Participants in the collaborative were trained on how to create trauma-informed agencies based on the components of effective TIC training described earlier. By expanding a train-the-trainer approach, the learning collaborative provided champions with content and resources, and promoted a parallel process through the trainers’ modeling of skills, activities, and discussions—putting the champions in the position to bring the information and resources back to their own agencies for planning and implementation

Selection of Champions
Questions for future TIC champions
Foundational Trauma Knowledge
Initial Training
Impacts on world view
Identify the levels of practice that make sense for their organization
Hear from other champions around what they have in place
Identify areas of strength and improvement in own program
Monthly Consultations
Question Example
Engagement and involvement
Evaluation
Physical Environment
Identify changes to address triggers in the physical environment
Cross Sector Collaboration
Increase awareness of the importance of collaborating with partners around TIC
Understand key components of effective coping
Final Training
Identify ways to build resilience into the workplace
Trainer Experiences

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