Turning the Lens of Trauma-Informed Care Toward Staff with Stress First Aid

It seems a sad irony — or perhaps fortuitous — that requirements for the provision of trauma-informed care (TIC) were initiated just as the nation and the world were caught in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering the SAMHSA definition of trauma, as resulting from events that are experienced as “physically or emotionally harmful or life-threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being,” there is no doubt that the pandemic, defined by isolation, loss, uncertainty, and disconnection, has been traumatic for us all.