HJNO Mar/Apr 2024

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF NEW ORLEANS I  MAR / APR 2024 23 to get it to be a required training for all new employees and staff. A lot of times, without trauma-informed care, people inadvertently do or say things, or processes and procedures are just not supportive of a trauma patient or someone who's experienced trauma and can really cause unsafe experiences or envi- ronments. When there is trauma-informed care, then I think it has a lot of benefits in addition to people feeling like they belong and are cared for and being heard and play- ing an active role in their care or just in their work environment. There are financial benefits. There's less turnover because trauma-informed care applies to employees as well. Continuing to educate people about that and train people in the principles of trauma-informed care is definitely something that I'm passionate about. Luckily, with the Trauma Recovery Center, it's kind of like our own little bubble. Everyone in our center has been trained in trauma-informed care — everyone from our front desk, patient access representatives — so we can ensure that when someone is coming to get help and care for their trauma, they're not going to be retraumatized by a systemor a policy or procedure. Talk to us about retraumatization, how it can happen, and how we, as the healthcare industry, can stop that from happening. Educating yourself or advocating for trauma-informed care trainings in your workplace is a good first step. It's a mindset shift, trauma-informed care, versus a set of strategies that you can just learn and apply throughout. You really have to shift your mindset about trauma and how it shows up in different spaces, and you have to be respon- sive to the signs of trauma that you see. It seems like a big ask of providers, but once you buy in, it just becomes second nature. You start to see things froma different angle. Rather than looking at someone and think- ing, “What's wrong with them?” you're more inclined to think, “What happened to them? What's still happening to them or people in their community?” It's a more compassion- ate stance that allows you to respond in a more compassionate way; versus if you think, “What's wrong with this person?” then you might be judgmental, you might be impa- tient. A lot of approaches may result when that happens that are not compassionate or trauma-informed. I would equate it with someone who is learning about anti-racism. The more you know, the more you can do to minimize harm, but it's an ever-evolving knowledge and skill base. I'll give you an example. In our trauma recovery clinic, before we expanded into the center, we were embedded in a bunch of other medical specialty clinics, and the front desk staff and any supportive staff were not trained in trauma-informed care. They weren't hired to work specifically with patients who were recovering from trauma and who maybe had PTSD. So, before they got to a therapy appointment withme, they interacted with at least four individuals from the time they got into the building. They had to interact with someone to just get in through security at the front desk.They had to interact with someone when they got to the front desk and someone when they got back to the clinic — all oppor- tunities for trauma-informed care, but also scenarios with potential to be retraumatizing. I've had patients who, at check-in, maybe a staff inadvertentlymade a comment that was not meant to be harmful, but under the cir- cumstances … For example, someone's run- ning late because they now have a physical disability and are not moving as quickly as they once were, and they couldn't find acces- sible parking in the parking garage. So, they were circling and ultimately had to just park far from the entrance. Now they're in pain, worried about being late, and, upon arrival, an employee at the desk comments that the patient is late for their appointment. Though this comment may be seemingly innocuous, it has the potential to cause the patient dis- tress when added to everything else they are dealing with in that moment. You see how those are a lot of different opportunities for trauma-informed care, not just with staff training, but accessible parking spaces or accessible buildings and environ- ments — just thinking through, “How can we minimize the stress of someone who's com- ing into our hospital to get care?” It doesn't necessarily have to be a trauma patient because this benefits all people. Anyone in the building can receive and give trauma- informed care. I was talking with a retired police chief the other day about domestic violence calls. He was saying how they were trained in the 1980s. They would show up and say, "Don't make me come here again." He realizes now how harmful that actually was to the person seeking protection. And that shift in understanding was eye opening for him. He thought he was trying to do good by saying, "Don't do this again," but the results were actu- ally less people calling for help when they needed it. That's a great example. I think the thing is we can never be perfect. Nobody is per- fect, right? You may inadvertently say or do something that does not land well or “With a therapeutic environment and trust inour team, we see that peopleendup, when they do come, opening up and being able to tolerate facing what happened, and not only doing that, but making meaning out of the experience and finding hope in their future.”