Trauma-Informed Care: What It Is, and Why It’s Essential for Marginalized Communities

Trauma-informed care (TIC) is an approach to therapy that prioritizes the understanding of trauma’s impact on an individual’s life and responds to it with sensitivity, compassion, and cultural responsiveness. Marginalized communities, who often face multiple layers of trauma due to experiences of racism, colonialism, and systemic injustice, particularly benefit from trauma-informed care. This blog will outline the core principles of TIC, such as safety, trustworthiness, choice, and empowerment, while explaining how these principles can be applied in therapeutic settings to improve outcomes for individuals in marginalized communities. We’ll also discuss the importance of therapists being aware of their own biases and cultural assumptions, as well as the role of collective healing in trauma recovery.