Trauma-Informed Counseling Approaches Flashcards

A counselor using Somatic Experiencing with a trauma survivor would primarily focus on:

Answer: Tracking and releasing physical sensations associated with trauma in the body

Somatic Experiencing (developed by Peter Levine) focuses on body sensations and nervous system discharge to resolve trauma held in the body.

In trauma-informed crisis work, secondary traumatic stress (STS) in the counselor is best prevented through:

Answer: Regular supervision, peer support, and intentional self-care practices

Prevention of secondary traumatic stress requires proactive strategies including supervision, peer consultation, and consistent self-care to sustain counselor wellbeing.

The ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) Study is significant to trauma-informed care because it demonstrated:

Answer: A dose-response relationship between childhood adversity and long-term health and mental health outcomes

The ACE Study found that higher ACE scores (more adverse childhood experiences) correlate with significantly worse adult health outcomes, establishing trauma's broad biopsychosocial impact.

A crisis counselor is working with a survivor of domestic violence who minimizes the abuse. This response is best understood through a trauma-informed lens as:

Answer: A coping and survival strategy that may include trauma bonding and normalized threat perception

Minimization in domestic violence survivors often reflects trauma bonding, shame, fear, or a normalized perception of threat developed as a survival adaptation.

When working with a client experiencing dissociation during a trauma-informed crisis session, the counselor should first:

Answer: Use grounding techniques to help the client reconnect with the present moment

Grounding techniques (e.g., 5-4-3-2-1 sensory awareness, feet on the floor) help interrupt dissociation by reconnecting the client to the present environment.

Trauma-informed care explicitly shifts the question from 'What is wrong with you?' to:

Answer: 'What happened to you?'

The foundational shift in trauma-informed care reframes behavior and symptoms as adaptations to traumatic experiences rather than personal deficits or pathology.

A counselor working with a client who experienced complex trauma (C-PTSD) should expect which presentation that differs from single-incident PTSD?

Answer: Pervasive identity disturbances, affect dysregulation, and relational difficulties

Complex PTSD (arising from prolonged, repeated trauma) involves core features beyond standard PTSD, including disrupted self-organization, affect dysregulation, and chronic relational difficulties.