Some local human service providers are learning a new way to work with clients who have experienced trauma in their lives.
Trauma-informed care is different from the traditional approach that focuses on a client's problems, such as alcoholism, sexual abuse, neglect, structural racism and community violence.
The new approach is centered on the individual's strengths and how they can build on them and move forward.
"Also, how many times is this client having to tell the details of their story, and to how many people, and can we develop a system where the client is only telling the details of their story once? Everytime they relive the story, if it's abuse, that's re-traumatizing," said Mary Hartstein, a program associate at the Rochester Area Community Foundation.
Hartstein says implementing this method is a long-term commitment that requires changes in an organization's culture and mindset.
"Some of them are going to be able to come together throughout this year and beyond and learn from each other through this humbling experience to go through and determine what you can be doing to better serve your clients."
Eight human services organizations, which include Villa of Hope, Willow Domestic Violence Center, and Monroe No. 1 Boces, Action for a Better Community, Catholic Family Center, YWCA, Monroe County Department of Human Services, and the Society for the Protection and Care of Children, are sharing a $244,000 grant from the Community Foundation and the Marie C. and Joseph C. Wilson Foundation.
The grant will fund staff training for the agencies, and an independent evaluator who will track the long-term impact of trauma-informed care practices for both the organizations’ clients and the community.
Three of the organizations, YWCA, Willow Domestic Violence Center, and Villa of Hope, have already implemented trauma-informed care to some extent. The other organizations will be adopting the new model for the first time.