SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach

SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach

This paper develops a working concept of trauma and a trauma-informed approach and develops a shared understanding of these concepts that would be acceptable and appropriate across an array of service systems and stakeholder groups. SAMHSA puts forth a framework for the behavioral health specialty sectors, that can be adapted to other sectors such as child welfare, education, criminal and juvenile justice, primary health care, the military and other settings that have the potential to ease or exacerbate an individual’s capacity to cope with traumatic experiences.