2018 Awareness Day Final Report AD2018_FinalReport_FINAL | Page 4

PATRICK MCCARTHY, President and CEO, the Annie E. Casey Foundation
The Power of Trauma-Informed Care
Individual trauma can result from an event, series of
events, or circumstances that a person experiences as
physically or emotionally harmful or life-threatening. This
may include witnessing or experiencing physical, sexual,
or emotional abuse; bullying; community violence; natural
disasters; the loss or incarceration of a loved one; or
having a loved one whose caregiving ability is impaired
by illness, injury, or addiction.
Individuals who have experienced trauma often face
long-term challenges such as substance misuse, physical
health conditions, and serious mental disorders, which is
why systems must work together to address the whole
person.
Experts who participated in the Awareness Day national
event provided further context to how trauma plays out in
real-life scenarios.
“Once psychiatrists began to understand that this was
an important starting point, we began to incorporate
the trauma-informed system of care into our practices,”
says Altha Stewart, president of the American Psychiatric
Association. “We’re better able to establish a foundation
for treatment when we know what happened to a child
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that resulted in the behaviors, the challenges that they’re
facing in school, in the family, in the community.”
Trauma-informed integrated care helps child ren,
youth, and young adults avoid lasting negative impacts
from trauma. Staff in trauma-informed programs,
organizations, and systems understand the impact of
trauma and therefore are able to integrate knowledge
about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices to
support recovery.
Patrick McCarthy, President and CEO of the Annie E.
Casey Foundation, pointed out the unfair and unfortunate
cycle in which many children and youth find themselves
when trauma-informed care is elusive.
“A child starts to act out based on their traumatic
experiences … and may be put in a group home, not
because that child doesn’t have potential, not because
that child is lost, but because the system has failed to
provide the supports that are needed,” McCarthy says.
Watch the “Experiences of Trauma” video.