Two things I wish I was more aware of when I worked in front line services

When I qualified as a social care worker, I remember the feeling of pure excitement when taking up my first post in a frontline service. I had spent 4 years in college studying a range of subjects. I had learned about social issues, inequalities, human development, and social psychology. The theory all made perfect sense. I had gained some practical experience through work placements and felt I was ready to make a difference. But there were a couple of things that I wish I knew then, things I didn’t learn until much later in my professional development, when I learned about Trauma Informed Practice. I’ll discuss them below.

1. Trust is something to be learned, rather than expected

In my early frontline days, I remember Jennifer, a young service user who I tried hard to build up a relationship with. She had a strong presence and other service users seemed to look up to her. When staff were around, she became closed and standoffish. She would rarely participate in any of the activities or group processes that we carried out in the service at the time. I labelled her as difficult and uninterested. I often wondered why she even bothered turning up at all. Why was she not connecting with me? Why didn’t she trust me? I didn’t understand. I was a helpful social care worker. Full of empathy and kindness. What’s not to trust? What I failed to understand at the time, was that for Jennifer, and for many of the service users I worked with, particularly those who had histories of complex trauma, trusting me was not safe, in fact testing and challenging was a way of trying to maintain safety.

What I failed to understand at the time, was that for Jennifer, and for many of the service users I worked with, particularly those who had histories of complex trauma, trusting me was not safe, in fact testing and challenging was a way of trying to maintain safety.

Overtime I learned more about Jennifer. She had grown up in the care system. She had spent time in over 30 different foster and residential care homes between the ages of to 11 to 18. New carers, new schools, new communities. Repeated ,time and time again. Jennifer learned that those who were meant to care for her and protect her, would eventually leave her. She felt abandoned and this created a sense of unsafety in her world. Who could she trust? Who could keep her safe? Jennifer learned to keep safe by keeping herself closed off from others. She was less likely to be harmed again by doing so. Now it makes sense ,it was not safe for Jennifer to trust me. I had the power to let her down, to reject her, to abandon her and to make decisions that may have a significant impact on her life, like other authority figures in her life had done previously.

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2. Connect before we Correct

As a frontline worker, I often encountered behaviours that I deemed as‘ unacceptable’ or ‘inappropriate’. In many cases, I responded through judgement.In Jennifer’s case, I judged her for her lack of participation and her coldness. I think she knew this. She was a trauma survivor after all, someone who had to learn to read people well, to protect herself. Through learning about trauma informed practice, I now know that judgement leads to feelings of rejection. I was compounding Jennifer’s traumatic experiences further through my judgment of her.  I now understand Jennifer’s motivation behind her behaviour, and I can be more compassionate and understanding of her needs. I wish I knew this information back then, but I didn’t, and I worked the only way I knew how with the information that I had. Idid the best that I could.As a trainer in Trauma Informed Practice, I am passionate about helping professionals to understand the impact of trauma on an individual’s capacity to feel safe and remain engaged in our services. Trauma Informed practice teaches us to pause and reflect on our practices and consider if we might respond differently when we apply the trauma lens.

Trauma Informed practice teaches us to pause and reflect on our practices and consider if we might respond differently when we apply the trauma lens.

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