May is **Mental Health Awareness Month**, and HIP joins the call to improve our understanding of how stress and trauma play significant roles in our ability to think, behave, perform at work, focus at school, and communicate in our personal relationships.

Lisa Cameron, High Impact Partners’ subject matter expert and technical assistance coach, is a specialist in Trauma-Informed Care (TIC). She has helped us understand what, why, and how mental health environments in the workplace impact an organization. “I’ve been working in the mental health field for 15 years, beginning with residential treatment facilities and moving to the nonprofit sector with the YWCA. It was at the YWCA where I was really exposed to the need for victim survivor support and gaining a deeper understanding of the various ways that trauma presents itself to those who have been affected by it.” Cameron turned her passion to trauma-informed care. “During the early stages of COVID-19, when people needed to be physically distant from each other, we were confined to living circumstances that were compounded by stress, and so many of us were left not knowing what to do or what was going to happen.” Cameron saw the need to provide her assistance online.

According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, “Given the mental health effects of isolation, stress, and economic strain, researchers forecast a devastating increase in poor mental health as a result of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic—estimating an additional 75,000 deaths as a result of substance abuse and suicide in the United States. People with chronic and severe mental health conditions and people with substance use disorders will not only struggle to gain access to the services they need, but pandemic-related stressors are likely exacerbating these preexisting vulnerabilities. The increase in mental health needs will burden an already strapped mental health care system and challenge the capacity of our mental health workforce to serve client’s needs in a mutually safe manner and with limited resources and support. Furthermore, mental health providers (e.g., therapists, counselors, psychologists) will also bear the primary responsibility of adapting and learning new modalities of service delivery while managing their own pandemic-related stressors).”

Trauma-Informed Care in the Workplace

Trauma-informed care (TIC) is not a new term nor a new trend. Even though the trauma may happen anywhere, the workplace specifically can create an impact by decompressing stress and trauma. Cameron advises workplaces to create an environment of trauma-informed care. “The difference is,” she says, “saying your organization is trauma-informed is one thing; actually, shifting the work environment so that it is a trauma-informed space is something completely different.”

Best Practices – for in or out of office, hybrid environments

Shift organizational culture to presume that everyone has experienced some form of trauma.

Collaboration - Shift the way we Speak and Act.  Teams and team leads collaborate methodically and intentionally, understanding each other with the perspective that everyone has experienced trauma in some way, shape, or form. This intentionality will help with eliminating unknown triggers. If we acknowledge that trauma exists, we can at least collaborate in a manner that nourishes a safe environment to collaborate and complete deliverables with healthy teams. 
Be Proactive - When setting deadlines and expectations, be agile and invite open dialogue. Get a sense of capacity and bandwidth with your team. Life happens, and the world is ever-changing, especially the world at home, at school, and in the community. Planning ahead to reach a consensus on timelines and milestones will gain trust, relationship building, and support in the work environment.
Organizational Norms - Establish de-stress routines. This is the most beneficial with the least amount of strenuous effort. Look in your community for other organizations that establish de-stress routines. Benchmarking and partnering with other organizations that practice TIC puts the workplace in a stronger position to handle stressors with resiliency and to draw on networking to address crises. 
Invite a TIC worker to your organization to set up a campaign that works for your environment. There is a nationwide shortage of healthcare workers, but these heroes and heroines exist in every community. Do the research to find a trauma-informed therapist or counseling practice expert in the trauma field. Collaborate with them to work on how to shift the work environment into a trauma-informed space. 
Search online to find a specialist near you or ask your Employee Assistance Program (EAP) leader to refer you. The workplace is not an environment where we usually open up about traumas in our lives, but talking about it with others, in a safe space, is healthy and helpful. Encourage a routine incentive campaign within the workplace to visit the EAP office or have the EAP office come to your team for exercises in de-stressing and building resilience for triggers and symptoms. TIC workers will work with your organization to establish a culture of safety and progress from your hybrid work environments that will promote greater productivity and team building.
Building Your Pipeline - The pandemic revealed a lack of mental health providers in schools and elsewhere for youth. Youth are entering the workforce, and many may not have the experience or knowledge to handle triggers. They might also lack the emotional intelligence to balance constructive criticism to build their skills and the capability to productively contribute under life’s pressures. To facilitate healthy mental health, promote journaling of challenges, failures, and successes along the work journey. Offer time and options for good mental health practices—it will benefit the individual as well as organizational output in the long run.  It will also help build a pipeline of TIC-conscious workforce professionals.

Cameron also advises people to embrace the challenge of sharing their traumas. “Trauma is pervasive. People think their trauma makes them irreparable, which is not the case.” She encourages people to journal about their trauma from an experience perspective. “You are not broken. Storytelling is a powerful thing. Acknowledge how this experience is affecting you in the day-to-day. Create your environment so you can see self-care reminders, listen to the music that brings joy and calm, and make an intentional shift in perspective. Broaden the lens of all your potential for your whole self.”

Lisa Cameron provides technical support to HIP grants management projects, including the Youth Apprenticeship Readiness Grant (YARG). She also works alongside Resolution Specialists on HIP’s Job Corps National Safety Hotline project.