How Does Trauma-Informed Addiction Treatment Support Recovery?
When a person goes for rehab, they may not realize what kind of care they are getting. Dealing with past trauma is difficult and causes a lot of stress for people. There is a correlation between trauma and substance abuse. Trauma and symptoms of trauma are found to be one of the co-occurring disorders with the highest rates of prevalence for people with substance abuse. This means that people who experience trauma may be more likely to experience mental health issues and substance abuse disorder. Trauma-informed care for addiction is the best way to support a person in rehab and recovery.
What is Trauma-Informed Care
Trauma informed care is an approach that bases therapeutic support in the science and understanding of how trauma is processed in the brain and helps people clinically. During counseling, these approaches can be incorporated to better support a person’s healing journey, rather than re-traumatize them by asking to relive their trauma. Based on the neurology of the brain, people responded to trauma in different ways in the brain and body. The autonomic nervous system is one area that is impacted. The sympathetic nervous system increases heart, lung, and other systems, while the parasympathetic nervous system relaxes all those functions. Many interventions used in trauma-informed care support the reduction of overstimulation of these systems and help a person feel less anxious, depressed, nervous, agitated, or otherwise feel harm from their environment as a result of trauma.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Work
Anyone going to substance abuse and mental health treatment will work with counselors who study and understand trauma, neglect, abuse, and how it all relates to substance abuse. To minimize the risk of re-traumatizing people, there is a way to process the trauma narrative with appropriate coping skills. It is not necessary to know all of a person’s story of trauma to help them, but they should disclose enough to be of support in a counseling sense. People are best served by establishing a sense of safety and stability. One this is established, the person is often able to process trauma safely and effectively. Safety and ability to be vulnerable with staff in rehab is key, also, to feel like they are stable, have to support, and coping skills to deal with working through the trauma safely. Interventions that connect people with services should also be trauma-informed to best help them navigate it effectively.
The importance of helping people feel safe while processing trauma cannot be underscored. When looking for rehab facilities, they will want to know they can feel safe with the staff and people there who are able to care for them. Trauma-informed care is about the whole person and making sure they feel like their needs are met without causing them more harm. This can encourage people to continue their journey of recovery if they feel they are getting what they need and can move forward in recovery as they process trauma.
The Palmetto Center is based on a Therapeutic Community model. Our goal is to provide trauma-informed care that takes all of your trauma and neglect into account when we think about the best treatment modalities. We honor your story and work hard to help you navigate the trauma without causing more harm. Our program provides a special focus for professionals including chiropractors, nurses, doctors, lawyers, and more who need help with addiction recovery. Call us to find out more: 866-848-3001.
