Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Developing trauma-informed care: using psychodynamic concepts to help staff respond to the attachment needs of survivors of trauma

Developing trauma-informed care: using psychodynamic concepts to help staff respond to the... Many referrals to our mental health of learning disability service focus on concerns about behaviours that present risks to the referred person and to those around them, including support workers. If the referred person has good verbal ability, psychological therapy may be requested and offered, but the person may find it too difficult to engage for a number of reasons. Even when they do engage in therapy, the authors recognise the importance of helping staff better understand their attachment needs. This paper aims to demonstrate an innovative approach to helping staff provide Trauma-Informed Care (TIC).Design/methodology/approachThe authors developed a training programme for support workers using psychodynamic concepts, such as splitting, transference and counter-transference, to help them develop insight into the processes that get enacted during their work. In this paper the authors have generally used the term “care staff”, recognising that an important aspect of the role of those staff is to provide care within an attachment framework; as well as support to maximise independence.FindingsThe feedback from staff who have attended has been very positive, both at the time and later. Staff who have attended have talked to multidisciplinary colleagues about the impact their learning has had on their ability to work with service users who present great challenges, in the context of their trauma histories.Originality/valueThe importance of providing TIC is gaining traction across varied settings. The authors are in the process of developing both qualitative and quantitative research programmes to evaluate this approach to increasing TIC for adults with learning disabilities, reducing staff burn out and placement breakdown. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities Emerald Publishing

Developing trauma-informed care: using psychodynamic concepts to help staff respond to the attachment needs of survivors of trauma

Download PDF
8 pages

Loading next page...
 
/lp/emerald-publishing/developing-trauma-informed-care-using-psychodynamic-concepts-to-help-OVktk0srop
Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited
ISSN
2044-1282
DOI
10.1108/amhid-12-2020-0033
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Many referrals to our mental health of learning disability service focus on concerns about behaviours that present risks to the referred person and to those around them, including support workers. If the referred person has good verbal ability, psychological therapy may be requested and offered, but the person may find it too difficult to engage for a number of reasons. Even when they do engage in therapy, the authors recognise the importance of helping staff better understand their attachment needs. This paper aims to demonstrate an innovative approach to helping staff provide Trauma-Informed Care (TIC).Design/methodology/approachThe authors developed a training programme for support workers using psychodynamic concepts, such as splitting, transference and counter-transference, to help them develop insight into the processes that get enacted during their work. In this paper the authors have generally used the term “care staff”, recognising that an important aspect of the role of those staff is to provide care within an attachment framework; as well as support to maximise independence.FindingsThe feedback from staff who have attended has been very positive, both at the time and later. Staff who have attended have talked to multidisciplinary colleagues about the impact their learning has had on their ability to work with service users who present great challenges, in the context of their trauma histories.Originality/valueThe importance of providing TIC is gaining traction across varied settings. The authors are in the process of developing both qualitative and quantitative research programmes to evaluate this approach to increasing TIC for adults with learning disabilities, reducing staff burn out and placement breakdown.

Journal

Advances in Mental Health and Intellectual Disabilities – Emerald Publishing

Published: Sep 21, 2021

Keywords: Risk management; Intellectual disability; Personality disorder; Staff training; Staff burn out; Trauma-informed approaches; Trauma-informed care

References

  • The concept of splitting and its clinical relevance
    Akhtar, S.; Byrne, J.P.
  • Borderline personality disorder, stigma, and treatment implications
    Aviram, R.; Stanley, B.
  • Clinical supervision of nurses. Working with patients with borderline personality disorder
    Bland, A.R.; Rossen, E.
  • Acceptance and commitment therapy-based self management versus psychoeducation training for staff caring for clients with a personaility disorder: a randomised controlled trial
    Clarke, S.; Taylor, G.; Lancaster, J.; Remington, B.
  • Child maltreatment among children with intellectual disability in the Canadian incidence study
    Dion, J.; Paquette, G.; Tremblay, K.; Collin-Ve’zina, D.; Chabot, M.
  • The form and function of challenging behaviours
    Emerson, E.; Bromley, J.
  • Facing up to ‘challenging behaviour’: a model for training in staff-service user interaction
    Farrell, G.A.; Shafiei, T.; Salmon, P.
  • Splitting of the ego in the defensive process
    Freud, S.
  • Understanding factors that influence staff responses to challenging behaviours: an exploratory interview study
    Hastings, R.P.
  • The impact of acceptance and commitment training and multicultural training on the stigmatizing attitudes and professional burnout of substance abuse counselors
    Hayes, S.C.; Bissett, R.; Roget, N.; Padilla, M.; Kohlenberg, B.S.; Fisher, G.; Niccolls, R.
  • The effectiveness of psychodynamic interventions for people with learning disabilities: a systematic review
    James, C.W.; Stacey, J.M.
  • ‘If we do not look for it, we do not see it’: clinicians’ experiences and understanding of identifying post-traumatic stress disorder in adults with autism and intellectual disability
    Kildahl, A.N.; Helverschou, S.B.; Bakken, T.L.; Oddli, H.W.
  • The needs of staff who care for people with a diagnosis of personality disorder who are considered a risk to others
    Kurtz, A.
  • ‘It’s one of the hardest jobs in the world’: the experience and understanding of qualified nurses who work with individuals diagnosed with both learning disability and personality disorder
    Lee, A.; Kiemle, G.
  • Services for people with learning disabilities and challenging behaviour or mental health needs
  • Personality disorder: its impact on staff and the role of supervision
    Moore, E.
  • Development of a multi-agency experiential training course on personality disorder
    Rigby, M.; Lonfgford, J.
  • Trauma-informed mental healthcare in the UK: what is it and how can we further its development?
    Sweeney, A.; Clement, S.; Filson, B.; Kennedy, A.
  • Trauma and life events in adults with intellectual disability
    Wigham, S.; Emerson, E.
  • Personality disorder and validity: a history of controversy
    Fulford, K.W.M.; Davies, M.; Gipps, R.G.T.; Graham, G.; Sadler, J.Z.; Stanghellini, G.; Thornton, T.