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The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

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What is Trauma-Informed Care and why does it matter?

Trauma-informed care occurs when all parties involved recognize and respond to the impact of traumatic stress on those who have contact with an organization, including children, caregivers, and service providers. Trauma-informed organizations infuse and sustain trauma awareness, knowledge, and skills into their organizational cultures, practices, and policies. Collaborating with all those who are involved with the child and using the best available science will maximize physical and psychological safety, facilitate the recovery of the child and family, and promote and support staff well-being. Organizations that serve children and families have an opportunity and an obligation to identify those experiencing trauma and help them receive appropriate care as early as possible, to prevent potential negative outcomes and promote children's ability to thrive. Trauma-informed care also requires that organizations support their staff by preventing and addressing the impact of secondary trauma.

What is the NCTSN Trauma-Informed Organizational Assessment?

The NCTSN Trauma-Informed Organizational Assessment (TIOA) is a tool created by the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress (NCCTS) to help organizations assess their current practices in the context of serving children and families who have experienced trauma. Results from the assessment can drive organizational change that facilitates the recovery of the child and family, supports their ability to thrive, and maximizes physical and psychological safety. Results from the NCTSN TIOA can help guide organizations to identify, prioritize, implement, and sustain trauma-informed practices. This tool is an important part of an organizational transformation process to create trauma-informed organizations.

The NCTSN TIOA is derived from the NCTSN definition of a Trauma-Informed Child and Family Service System, which is based on collaborative work from a diverse group of NCTSN members with trauma and systems-change expertise. Their work identified nine areas, or domains, that are key to creating a trauma-informed program or organization, and these are the nine domains of the NCTSN TIOA.

The items in the NCTSN TIOA have been developed and refined by combining current research with NCTSN expertise, including the perspectives of families, youth, direct service providers, administrators, trainers, researchers, and intervention developers who work across child welfare, juvenile justice, education, healthcare, and mental health systems.

How can the NCTSN Trauma-Informed Organizational Assessment be used?

The NCTSN TIOA is intended for any organization that serves children and families, regardless of sector, and was designed to:

Measure where an organization is (related to being trauma-informed) at a given point in time

Create a common language around trauma-informed care within an organization and with staff across all roles, as well as within the organization's broader community of child- and family-serving agencies

Bring to light important areas for an organization to address, helping to create a roadmap for organizational change related to trauma-informed care

Identify specific NCTSN tools, resources, and strategies to help an organization better serve children and families who have experienced trauma, as well as support staff working with children and families

Assess progress and improvement over time

To learn more

For more information, download the NCTSN Trauma-Informed Organizational Assessment (TIOA) Informational Packet. This resource outlines how the NCTSN TIOA is different from other trauma-related organizational assessment tools, describes the process of using the NCTSN TIOA, and includes sample items.

For questions or more information on the NCTSN TIOA, please email TIOA@NCTSN.org.

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Trauma-informed care occurs when all parties involved recognize and respond to the impact of traumatic stress on those who have contact with an organization, including children, caregivers, and service providers. Trauma-informed organizations infuse and sustain trauma awareness, knowledge, and skills into their organizational cultures, practices, and policies.

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Principles of an Anti-Racist, Trauma-Informed Organization

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Principles of an Anti-Racist, Trauma-Informed Organization

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The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

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Principles of an Anti-Racist, Trauma-Informed Organization

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Offers actionable principles that organizations and child-serving systems can implement to move toward the fundamental transformation of becoming anti-racist and trauma-informed.

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Becoming a Trauma-Informed Organization November 14th, 2024 Recording

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Becoming a Trauma-Informed Organization November 14th, 2024 Recording

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Knowledge to Action Conversation on Becoming a Trauma-Informed Organization

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Is Your Organization Striving to be Trauma-Informed?
 
 
Join Jennifer Hossler from the Georgia Center for Child Advocacy Center to learn about the Trauma-Informed Organizational Assessment (TIOA). Discover how the TIOA can help you assess and transform your organization.
 
 
See how a Georgia child advocacy center made the change by weaving trauma-informed practices into their work—from tackling secondary traumatic stress to building stronger teams and creating psychologically safe spaces.

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Guidelines to Build an Anti-Racist, Trauma Informed Organization

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Guidelines to Build an Anti-Racist, Trauma Informed Organization

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This site provides essential guidelines for building anti-racist, trauma-informed organizations to support diverse communities effectively.

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The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

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Principles of an Anti-Racist, Trauma-Informed Organization

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Offers actionable principles that organizations and child-serving systems can implement to move toward the fundamental transformation of becoming anti-racist and trauma-informed.

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This year-round calendar provides excellent trauma-informed training opportunities for professionals across all fields.

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We envision a world where organizations and people recognize the prevalence of trauma and have a balanced understanding of both its negative effects and potential positive consequences and where people who have experienced trauma feel empowered to share their pain, define and pursue their recovery,

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A Healthcare Perspective on Trauma-Informed Care

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A Healthcare Perspective on Trauma-Informed Care

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This visual depicts the physical manifestations of trauma in the workplace, but it can be applied to any setting where trauma has been experienced.

Original image obtained from: https://www.ctipp.org/post/listen-trauma-informed-workplaces-with-dr-bloom

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This short podcast looks insightfully at how trauma affects us as adults and how deeply that translates into the workplace.

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“Trauma-informed workplaces offer a sanctuary of safety and support, a place where people can bring their whole selves and be valued for who they are.” - Sandra L. Bloom, M.D., CTIPP Board Chair, and Founder of Creating PRESENCEWhat does it mean to be “trauma-informed,” and why should organizations make their workplace more trauma-informed? How can it improve a team member’s (and the organization’s!) well-being, safety, productivity, fulfillment, and growth? How do you build, implement, and sust

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This cluster of podcasts introduces the topic of trauma while pulling on some important threads. A great listen.

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6 Trauma-Informed Podcast Episodes - ChildSavers

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Trauma-informed podcast episodes to help bring light to childhood trauma, racial/intergenerational trauma, and trauma in adulthood.

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This useful framework provides a comprehensive overview of trauma-informed care, emphasizing the importance of understanding trauma's effects on health and well-being to enhance support systems across healthcare and human services

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Part 2 provides a broad overview of how to create and implement an institutional framework for trauma-informed services in program delivery and staff development, policies and procedures, administrative practices, and organizational infrastructure in behavioral health services. Chapter 1, “Trauma-Informed Organizations,” focuses on specific organizational strategies that will help develop a trauma-informed culture in behavioral health settings. Numerous strategies are presented, including organizational commitment to trauma-informed care (TIC), trauma-informed organizational assessment, implementation of universal screening for trauma, and creation of a peer support environment.

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Bolton College, U.K, explores how they explore the needs of their students and trauma. Learn about the practices and strategies they used to assist their student body.

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Greater Manchester Integrated Care Partnership 

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The Journey for A Healing-Centered Organization

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The Journey for A Healing-Centered Organization

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This short video by the Virginia Department of Social Work highlights the reasons and benefits of using a trauma-informed assessment to incorporate necessary practices into healing organizations.

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The Journey of Becoming a Trauma-Informed Healing-Centered Organization

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A sketched account of Fall-Hamilton Elementary School's trauma-informed journey timeline. Based in Nashville, Tennesee, this school reflects on the years and strategies they used to become a trauma-informed school.

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One School's Trauma Informed Journey Timeline

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The reasoning behind the approach.

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Education Buzzwords Defined: What Are Trauma-Informed Practices?

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Adapting to Be A Trauma-Informed Classroom

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Adapting to Be A Trauma-Informed Classroom

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Mark Saunders, dives into how schools can become trauma-informed, focusing on understanding and adapting to students' experiences with adversity. By shifting our approach to ask “What happened to you?” instead of “What’s wrong with you?” educators can create a compassionate, supportive environment that helps every student thrive.

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Discover how schools can become healing spaces, helping students overcome challenges and build resilience.

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Getting Started With Trauma-Informed Practices

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Trauma-informed practices embedded into school life is the needed. Explore how schools are creating safe, supportive learning environments that empower both students and educators. .

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NEA's COMMITMENT

The National Education Association (NEA) is committed to ensuring that school is a safe, welcoming, and inclusive place where all students can thrive, regardless of circumstance or ZIP code, and where educators have the support and resources they need to be successful. We believe supporting students who suffer from childhood trauma requires whole school involvement and transformation. All school employees play a crucial role in supporting students impacted by childhood trauma. In keeping with this vision, the Association and its affiliates are actively engaged in finding ways for schools and educators to address the issue of trauma and its implications for learning, behavior, and school safety.

FRAMING THE ISSUE OF TRAUMA

From school shootings that shock the nation with grim regularity to the daily toll of violence, poverty, abuse, and addiction in our communities that rarely makes headlines, America's students and their families often experience traumatic events that can shape their lives forever.

Decades of research and studies have established that children who experience adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) not only are more likely to exhibit negative behaviors at school, but are more likely to develop risky behaviors. They are more likely to face a host of negative health consequences over their lifetimes, including reduced life expectancy. Data from the 2016 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) showed that 46 percent of America's children had experienced at least one adverse childhood experience with the number rising to 55 percent for children aged 12 to 17. One in five U.S. children had two or more ACEs.

Given the pervasiveness of ACEs across the population, most educators encounter trauma-affected students throughout their careers, whether they know it or not. Often these students exhibit a sudden change in behavior, from social withdrawal to violent outbursts or self-harm. When an educator frequently interrupts instruction to address disruptive behavior, teaching and learning for the entire class can suffer.

These outbursts and the punishments that often follow affect the psychological well-being and safety of both educators and students and, left unexamined, contribute to the school-to-prison pipeline that NEA is committed to eradicating.

ADDRESSING THE ISSUE OF TRAUMA

Unions and districts across the country are working together to address the epidemic of trauma in schools with students' and educators' needs in mind. They are collaborating to transform schools into "trauma-informed" or "trauma-sensitive" environments, taking deliberate steps to become safe havens for every student and safe working environments for every educator.

ACEs awareness and engagement on a national level is imperative to ensure students are healthy, safe, engaged and supported so that they are ready to learn. Trauma-sensitive and trauma-informed environments allow educators the opportunity to collaborate in a way that supports a student's mental and physical health so that learning can occur. School communities that engage in paid professional development, practice and support for all school employees create a culture that builds resilience for all students. Trauma-sensitive focus on education fosters a school climate where students feel safe and confident in their ability to learn, can differentiate between trauma induced behavior and appropriate behavior, and connect with adults and peers in a positive manner.

NEA believes that supporting students' needs around the issues of trauma will enable them to come to school ready to learn and meet academic challenges that reinforce the development of life skills, mental stimulation, and student learning. When schools become trauma sensitive, they strive to ensure that all students are receiving the supports they need to succeed.

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Supporting students who suffer from childhood trauma requires whole school involvement and transformation. NEA and its affiliates are actively engaged in finding ways for schools and educators to address the issue of trauma and its implications for learning, behavior, and school safety.

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Use as a reminder to the important elements needed to grow.

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A fabulous resource and quick overview of elements from Trauma-Informed Lancashire, UK.

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A useful tool for organizations to plot their growth in trauma-informed care.

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Trauma Informed Oregon discusses the five key steps organizations take to become fully trauma-informed, creating safer, more supportive environments for everyone.

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TIO's Standards for Trauma Informed Care are grouped under Five Essential Elements:

Organizational Commitment

Training and Education

Policy, Procedure, Practice Review

Feedback and Quality Assurance

Culture and Climate

Each standard or element can be rated on a scale for 1 to 5, where 1 equals "Organization is unaware of the need for this standard" and 5 equals "Standard is sustainably in place and monitoring for continuous quality improvement occurs regularly."

Systematically assessing TIC implementation accomplishes two things. First, it documents the extent to which the organization is trauma-informed, and clearly identifies systemic strengths, weaknesses, and gaps. Second, it helps the organization decide on overall goals, and identify and prioritize specific practice changes to make.

Interactive Graphic of the Five Essential Elements of Trauma Informed Care
Click on an item to see its definition.

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TIO | Five Essential Elements of Trauma Informed Care

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TIO's Standards for Trauma Informed Care are grouped under Five Essential Elements: Organizational Commitment Training and Education Policy, Procedure, Practice Review Feedback and Quality Assurance Culture and Climate Each standard or element can be rated on a scale for 1 to 5, where 1 equals "Organization is unaware of the need for this standard" and 5 equals "Standard is sustainably in place and monitoring for continuous quality improvement occurs regularly."

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The NCTSN site offers valuable tools for building trauma-informed systems, empowering us to better support children and families through compassionate, informed care.

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The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

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A trauma-informed child and family service system is one in which all parties involved recognize and respond to the impact of traumatic stress on those who have contact with the system including children, caregivers, and service providers. Programs and agencies within such a system infuse and sustain trauma awareness, knowledge, and skills into their organizational cultures, practices, and policies. They act in collaboration with all those who are involved with the child, using the best available science, to maximize physical and psychological safety, facilitate the recovery of the child and family, and support their ability to thrive.

A service system with a trauma-informed perspective is one in which agencies, programs, and service providers:

1. Routinely screen for trauma exposure and related symptoms.

2. Use evidence-based, culturally responsive assessment and treatment for traumatic stress and associated mental health symptoms.

3. Make resources available to children, families, and providers on trauma exposure, its impact, and treatment.

4. Engage in efforts to strengthen the resilience and protective factors of children and families impacted by and vulnerable to trauma.

5. Address parent and caregiver trauma and its impact on the family system.

6. Emphasize continuity of care and collaboration across child-service systems.

7. Maintain an environment of care for staff that addresses, minimizes, and treats secondary traumatic stress, and that increases staff wellness.

These activities are rooted in an understanding that trauma-informed agencies, programs, and service providers:

1. Build meaningful partnerships that create mutuality among children, families, caregivers, and professionals at an individual and organizational level.

2. Address the intersections of trauma with culture, history, race, gender, location, and language, acknowledge the compounding impact of structural inequity, and are responsive to the unique needs of diverse communities.

for a printable version of the NCTSN definition of a Trauma-Informed Child and Family Service System.

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A trauma-informed child and family service system is one in which all parties involved recognize and respond to the impact of traumatic stress.

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Use the Trauma-Informed Organizational Assessment (TIOA) to become more inclusive for the children and families you work with.

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The National Child Traumatic Stress Network

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A trauma-informed child and family service system is one in which all parties involved recognize and respond to the impact of traumatic stress.

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Explore mre with the Child Welfare Information Gateway as they discover practical ways to bring trauma-informed practices into child welfare work, enhancing support for both children and families.

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Trauma-informed workplaces aren’t just kinder—they’re smarter, helping employees feel safe, supported, and better equipped to thrive. Read more from the Harvard Review.

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For the past few years, we've been experiencing collective trauma. But trauma is not new in our organizations, and it's not going away, either. Estimates are that six in 10 men and five in 10 women experience at least one trauma, and approximately 6% of the population will experience PTSD at some point in their lives. As we've seen the lines between work and home blur and a fundamental shift in our expectations of the places we work, organizations have struggled to provide the support and leadership that their employees and customers need. That's why it's so important that they take steps now to build the cultures that can see them through this crisis and the ones we'll all inevitably face in the future. To do that, we need to build trauma-informed organizations. A trauma-informed organization is one that operates with an understanding of trauma and its negative effects on the organization's employees and the communities it serves and works to mitigate those effects. It may not be possible to predict or avoid the next crisis our organizations will face. However, with forethought, planning, and commitment, we can be prepared to meet the next challenge - whatever it may be - and come through it stronger.

The past two years have been incredibly turbulent, as we've faced Covid, racial violence, political upheaval, environmental disasters, war, and more. Anxiety and depression have skyrocketed. Organizations have had to confront issues they never expected and find new ways to support their employees through repeated traumatic experiences.

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For the past few years, we've been experiencing collective trauma. But trauma is not new in our organizations, and it's not going away, either. Estimates are that six in 10 men and five in 10 women experience at least one trauma, and approximately 6% of the population will experience PTSD at some point in their lives.

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The Wounded Workforce discusses some real truths about the benefits of trauma-informed workplaces. Read how there is a real need to foster a culture of support, help prevent burnout, and create a safer environment for everyone.

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Why Should Organizations Care About Trauma? — The Wounded Workforce

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The Georgia Center for Child Advocacy supports children who’ve experienced abuse, helping them reclaim their strength and resilience. They empower kids and families to heal and thrive through prevention, education, and specialized therapy. Their work builds a brighter future for children and safer communities for all.

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We bring healing and hope for children, adults, families, and communities through intervention, education, and support around abuse prevention.