Principles of Trauma-Informed Care and Practice

Running head: PRINCIPLES OF TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE AND PRACTICE 1
Principles of Trauma-Informed Care and Practice
Student’s Name
University

PRINCIPLES OF TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE AND PRACTICE 2
Principles of Trauma-Informed Care and Practice
The issues demonstrated in the video which may have contributed to the problematic
substance use
Mental health symptoms are mostly treated through the prescription of certain drugs that
assist the patient to overcome the related symptoms leading to normal functioning of the patient.
In the case, three issues have been presented that have contributed to problematic substance use
(Elder, Evans, & Nizette, 2012). The first issue is the relapse of mental illness due to the failure
of Lisa to take the prescribed drugs. This is seen through the clinical signs of agitation and
fidgeting that make her behave like she is responding to a stimuli in the reception. As seen in the
case, she seems disturbed and looks like there is something that is communicating to her.
The second issue presented in the case is the expression of paranoia that makes Lisa feel
like a voice is communicating to her. This has made her believe that Jona her boyfriend has
inserted a transmitter in her stomach which allows him to see everything that she does. She
further feels that there are cameras in every room that are watching her and she needs to protect
herself.
The last issue is the auditory command hallucinations that seem to be driving her actions.
Hear, the voices are telling her to protect herself which have made her sleep in the garden with a
knife. This means that she possesses a risk to others since these voice commands can make her
harmful and she too fears that she may harm Jona. Although she knows that Jona has never
harmed her, she prefers to listen to the auditory hallucinations rather than her past with Jona.
Principles of trauma-informed care and practice
According to Lisa, Critelli & Rinfrete (2011), one of the principles is safety which
focusses on ensuring that the patient feels secure at all times. This means that the environment

PRINCIPLES OF TRAUMA-INFORMED CARE AND PRACTICE 3
that the patient meets the practitioner is critical in determining how the patient responds to the
care practice. Chiesa (2014) suggests that this implies that the physical settings that the patient
and the practitioner engage is other is important in developing a good relationship with the
patient since it makes him/her feel secure and able to relate freely. As seen in the case of Lisa,
the patient seemed to be disturbed when in the reception because she looked like she was
responding to stimuli or something that was seeking her attention.
From the case, the counselor seemed to be aware of this issue and applied the principle
effectively by exploring the issues that she was facing thus making her feel comfortable.
Through building rapport, we see Lisa in the case study slowly regrouping herself and seemed to
be engaging with the counselor in a better way. The role of this principle is to ensure that the
patient feels safe based on the way the counselor approaches the issue (Holm & Severinsson,
2010). Here the counselor approached the case by exploring all the issues that Lisa was facing
and even using verbal cues and probing to allow her to open up thus feeling comfortable in the
long run. By explaining to the patient the causes of the issues she is facing, Lisa is driven into
seeking the solution to her problem which makes her agree meeting the mental health counselor.
The second principle is trustworthiness and transparency. The principle is based on the
nature of the relationship between the patient and the counselor (Bosch & Mansell, 2015). In this
case, the client benefits well and works easily with the professional if he or she feels that the
process is being done openly and decisions are made transparently. Thus by being transparent,
the counselor ensure that the patient understands everything that is going. As seen in the case of
Lisa, the counselor has been as transparent as possible because even when making the call to
inquire about the intervention from a mental health worker, the decision is requested from Lisa