Disclaimer: This blog openly references topics such as child abuse and trauma and highlights how those might impact an individual on a physical and psychological level. If the content of this blog brings up any feelings of discomfort, you are encouraged to seek out the support of a qualified mental health professional.
With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the public reckoning with racial justice issues following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, conversations about trauma have become mainstream. If you are a leader supporting a diverse workforce, undoubtedly you have seen a profound shift in how individuals engage with their work. Expectations have changed regarding issues such as work-life balance and integration of diversity, equity, and inclusion practices into the organizational culture. As leaders, the landscape in which we lead has fundamentally changed. By utilizing a trauma informed leadership approach, we can meet the demands of these changing times while better caring for ourselves, our employees and the needs of our organizations.
Trauma and its Impact
You only need to scan your social media feed or watch the news to understand that we are living in stressful times. For many, potential exposure to traumatic events, including natural disasters, gun violence, community violence, have become the norm. These events, in addition to experiences of physical and sexual abuse in childhood and exposure to domestic violence, can impact the quality of our relationships, how we handle stress, solve problems, and even our physical health. Exposure to trauma has been linked to increased depression, anxiety, attention problems, and a whole host of other physical and emotional challenges.
Generally, whether an event can be considered “traumatic” is characterized by the following criteria:
· Exposure to a life altering harmful event or series of events
· Lack of actual or perceived control during the harmful situation
· Violation of trust and physical and emotional safety
· A disruption in the social contract and a fundamental shift in your worldview
Gabor Mate in his book, The Myth of Normal, describes two kinds of trauma and how they are different from stressful events:
· Capital “T” trauma – Those specific, identifiable, and hurtful events that create autonomic and powerful responses in our body. These are the types of trauma we serve every day in child and family-serving organizations.
· Small “t” trauma – Less memorable but hurtful misfortunes of childhood. Might include bullying, high conflict divorce, etc. All of us have likely experienced a version of this type of trauma.
· Stressful events – Events that cause temporary distress but which our bodies can adapt and recover within a reasonable period. Might include parental divorce, moving, etc.
While he wasn’t the first to think about trauma in this way, this framework can help us understand that most, if not all of us, have had some experience with either capital “T” or small “t” trauma.
Collective and Syndemic Trauma
Over the past couple of years, our global society has experienced a collective trauma with the COVID-19 pandemic. Collective trauma (Hirschberger, 2018) is the psychological reactions to a traumatic event that affects an entire society. The tragedy is represented in the collective memory of the group, which includes both a reproduction of the event, but also an ongoing reconstruction of the trauma to make sense of it. Simply put, it is a trauma that we are all experiencing, and making sense of, together.
Further, with the co-occurrence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the recent grappling with racial justice issues, several scholars have argued that we have experienced a “syndemic trauma,” or two or more major traumatic events that occur at the same time.
Trauma and Mainstream Media
It is no surprise that we are hearing more about trauma in mainstream media. In 2014, Bessel van der Kolk, a renowned psychiatrist and trauma expert, published the seminal text, The Body Keeps the Score. While the text was written for professionals and incredibly popular to those of us working in the trauma field at the time, it was not generally well-known to the general public. Fast forward to 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic. The Body Keeps the Score experienced a resurgence within the public and emerged as a New York Times bestseller, six years after its initial release. When asked about its resurgence in popularity, Dr. van der Kolk stated that the content of the book felt increasingly relevant as we are all interested in understanding how these collective experiences of trauma impact us personally. No doubt this is having a greater impact on our workforce, who are bringing their own current or past experiences of trauma into the workplace, whether they know it or not.
Trauma and the Current Workforce
Conservative estimates suggest that at least one out of three individuals have experienced one or more traumatic events in their lifetime – whether that was abuse as a child, exposure to natural or man-made disasters, or exposure to violence as adults. With the addition of the syndemic of COVID-19 pandemic and the grappling with racial justice issues, it is safe to assume that a large percentage of our workforce has not only experienced trauma but are also experiencing trauma reminders when they are at work. These reminders can lead them to respond from a reactive mode – such as avoiding difficult situations, engaging in ongoing conflicts, or desperate people pleasing and seeking approval.
For example:
· Janie was a chemist at a university. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the sense of fear in the community reminded her of the constant tension she experienced growing up where she watched her father hurt her mother every night after having one too many drinks. She became terrified about her own health and the health and well-being of those she cared about. While her job required that she continued to show up “in-person”, Janie felt terrified to be in the office. She called out sick frequently and after a couple of months, found herself looking for another job.
· Alex was a software engineer at a large company who grew up in a home where he was repeatedly physically abused by his stepfather. Eventually, he grew big enough where he could fight back and became comfortable fighting injustices that came up at his organization. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, his employer required him to continue coming into the office, but everyone needed to wear masks. Alex was angry at the whole situation and had several fights with his Supervisor – at times it was about coming in the office, at other times it was about having to wear a mask.
· Kimberly was a salesperson at a local boutique. She loved her job, but when the pandemic started, she didn’t know what to do. She became increasingly stressed as her employer implemented mandatory masking and asked her to ensure that customers were wearing masks when they came into the boutique. While many were compliant with the masking mandate, there were others who would become angry and refuse to put on their masks. Kimberly hated these confrontations as it reminded her of the times in her childhood where she tried to stop her uncle from sexually abusing her, but he never did. To avoid the conflict, she stopped enforcing the mandate and just checked out. Although she came to work, she stopped enjoying her job.
While the experiences of all these employees were different, they all had histories of trauma that impacted their ability to actively engage in and enjoy their work. They were in reactive mode, scanning the environment for the next threat, like their responses to the trauma they experienced in their childhood. When this happens, it is helpful for leaders to be able to both identify that it’s happening and create a space for everyone to take a step back and reflect – including ourselves! Taking a break from the stressful situation activates the “thinking’ (vs. “feeling”) part of our brain, creating opportunities for more innovation and problem-solving.
The Call for a Trauma-Informed Leadership Approach
As leaders, we may not always fully understand why our staff members are reacting the way that they do to certain situations, but if we understand the pervasive nature of trauma, we can be prepared to address challenging situations with a trauma-informed approach. Coined in 2001 by Harris and Fallot in their text New Directions for Mental Health Services: Using Trauma Theory to Design Service Systems, a trauma-informed approach is one in which we understand and acknowledge how trauma may have impacted the individuals that we serve and respond accordingly. Building on this work, we are going to spend time in this blog talking about what it means to be a trauma-informed leader. A trauma-informed leader is one who:
· Creates physically and psychologically safe teams and environments
· Builds trust between and among team members
· Facilitates multiple opportunities for connection
· Identifies clear boundaries and expectations while also supporting staff autonomy, voice, and choice
· Engages in the “tough” conversations when needed
· Has a space to be vulnerable when they are experiencing challenges
· Creates opportunities to take care of themselves
Throughout this blog, we’ll dive deeper into what it really means to be a trauma-informed leader.
Key Points to Remember
· Trauma is pervasive and impacts each of us in unique ways
· There has been an increased need to focus on trauma and its impact because of the syndemic experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic and our collective racial reckoning
· Our experiences of trauma in childhood can frame how we understand ourselves, experience the world, and relate to others
· As leaders, we have an opportunity to meeting the changing needs of our staff through a trauma-informed leadership approach
Suggested Reading:
· The Body Keeps the Score – Bessel van der Kolk
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Bio: Lisa Conradi is a licensed clinical psychologist, trauma expert and former Executive Director of a trauma-focused organization. She is an author, speaker, trainer and leadership consultant with more than 20 years in the field of child trauma and trauma-informed care. She does not currently provide any clinical or treatment services to clients.