The Benefits of Trauma-Informed Care

Trauma-informed care is an important part of therapy for many drug treatment clients. Whereas many treatment centers focus on using and addiction, there are many benefits of trauma-informed care. Many people come to recovery and treatment with unresolved issues related to something traumatic they have experienced in their life.

Some people may have anxiety or PTSD, which are both mental health disorders that are treatable and often require medication and talk therapy. For others, the effects of trauma may not be as noticeable but can often reveal themselves during therapy or recovery work.

Trauma and Coping Behaviors

In recovery, people often “peel back the layers” of their life and discover that their past trauma is a trigger to continue to use alcohol or drugs. They may learn that their poor coping behaviors were a result of dealing with trauma.

Oftentimes, an individual may have developed coping behaviors that worked well while in crisis but now need to be changed to live a happier, healthier life.

Understanding how traumatic experiences can affect the individual and how they can learn to cope with their past trauma today are important parts of trauma-informed care.

Trauma-Informed Care and Addiction

Post-traumatic stress disorder is one way a person’s life can change when they have survived a traumatic experience. Professionals will often describe this mental health disorder as a “normal reaction to abnormal circumstances.” The brain often creates different ways of thinking as a result of a person’s life experiences.

Coping with trauma can change how a person acts, feels, and thinks, as they often go into “survival mode,” and their mind continues to return to that mode after the threat has passed. Trauma-informed care can help treatment providers address both addiction and triggers resulting from traumatic experiences.

Addiction is common among people who have experienced trauma. People who have been to war or survived sexual assault often are diagnosed with PTSD and other issues. It’s widespread for people who have unresolved or unexplored traumatic experiences in their past to self-medicate, especially during the holidays or even anniversaries of the event that caused them so much pain.

Addiction can make a bad situation much worse and puts further strain on your mental health.

Getting Help for Addiction and Trauma

Getting help for resolving past trauma and caring for mental disorders can help a person become more healthy and cope with their life instead of using substances.

At Cycles of Change Recovery Center, trauma-informed treatment helps us meet our clients where they’re at. Trauma-informed care encompasses a treatment framework that involves understanding, recognizing, and responding to the effects of all types of trauma.

Through this trauma-informed approach, we can help our clients by emphasizing physical, psychological, and emotional safety. This approach helps trauma survivors rebuild a sense of control and empowerment in their lives and provide new coping skills.

Get help for addiction and learn to cope with past trauma. We’re here to help you chart your path to recovery. Please call us at 855-604-1367 to learn more about our services and which insurance companies we accept.