Trauma-informed treatment is an essential component to addiction recovery, as trauma is a powerful factor in causing active addiction. Science has told us that biological and environmental factors affect an individual’s prevalence of addiction. However, just as specific traumas can trigger a mental illness like panic disorder or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic events can trigger the start of active addiction. Additionally, treating trauma and trauma-informed care may work hand in hand with each other, but they are not the same.
Trauma-informed care helps us to pay attention to what originally triggered mental illness and triggers that can lead to continual reoccurrences of relapse or episodes of duress. Treating trauma helps us to discover why certain things trigger our clients, allowing us to get to the root cause of the trigger and, hopefully, be able to treat them effectively. If you or someone you love is looking specifically for a program that will focus on trauma-informed care and treating trauma, a program with The Ohana Addiction Treatment Center may be a right fit for you. Our luxurious facility and competent team of trained professionals will help you on your adventure to recovery, where you can finally find freedom from active addiction.
Trauma Exposure
There are several types of traumas, in particular, that many people experience all too often. That may include being exposed to physical or mental abuse or neglect, domestic violence, or experiencing a natural disaster, and being exposed to intense situations of violence and terror. Individuals that are exposed to such situations will have an increased chance of engaging in high-risk behaviors, developing mental illnesses, and beginning to use drugs and or alcohol as a way to cope with these complex feelings and traumas. This can be particularly adverse when certain traumatic events are experienced during childhood.
The stresses of traumatic childhood events can last well into adulthood, affecting the rest of someone’s life if untreated. In adolescents, this can lead to acting out, increased need for mental health services, and even run-ins with child welfare and or juvenile court systems. These experiences, the trauma of falling into the juvenile system, or experiencing untreated mental illness can trigger a downward spiral of increased anxiety, depression, and even substance use disorder (SUD).
Just a few examples of traumatic events that can wreak these kinds of problems according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) include:
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Psychological, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse
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Events of community violence, terrorism, or active combat experiences
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Life-threatening events such as illness, accidents, or the violent deaths of loved ones
If untreated, trauma from your past can wreak havoc on your future. Seeking trauma-informed care is essential, and The Ohana can provide you with the resources that can help today.
The Success of Trauma-Informed Care
One of the beauties of trauma-informed care is that instead of focusing on the misconception that there’s something wrong with someone, it focuses on the fact that something awful happened to them, and that’s where the illness is manifesting from. SAMHSA claims that for trauma-informed care to be implemented effectively, organizational and clinical practices need to be executed. Organizational modalities help to acknowledge the impact of trauma while clinical treatment recognizes how that trauma is impacts individuals.
Some of SAMHSA’s key ingredients for effectively implementing trauma-informed care include:
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Leading and communicating about the process
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Engaging with patients in organizational planning
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Having well-trained clinical and non-clinical staff
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Ensuring clients are being treated in a safe space
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Preventing secondary traumatic stress occurrences
In addition to changing treatment perspectives from focusing on what’s wrong with someone to what has happened to them, trauma-informed care reaps many other benefits. It helps create a greater awareness of the impact trauma has on people, what the signs and symptoms of that trauma look like, and what the paths to recovering from that trauma look like. More treatment facilities can integrate trauma-informed treatment simply by incorporating it into their policies. Actively involving it in everyday practice helps not only treat the struggles with mental illness and addiction but treat the root cause of the problem as well.
Trauma-Informed Care at The Ohana
The Ohana Addiction Treatment Center’s intensive outpatient program is focused on treatment that is adventure-filled, trauma-informed, and evidence-based. Focusing on trauma provides our clients with the necessary tools for integrating back into their everyday lives post-treatment. Research shows that many of the struggles with substance use disorders involve trauma. At The Ohana, we agree with that research, which is why our program is rooted in trauma-informed care as means of teaching our clients healthier and effective coping techniques in a safe environment.
Not only do we utilize trauma-informed treatment, but our luxurious and adventure-filled program can help you connect with a community that will become like a family to support you during your recovery. We believe that figuring out the way addiction occurs is essential to learning how to move forward into recovery. Let The Ohana join you on your adventure to recovery today.
