Here's your eyes back - you rolled them a little too hard at the mention of 'trauma'.
And I get it. I really do. It can seem as though everyone is "traumatised" and "triggered" these days, and, as a business leader, it can feel like something that's definitely not your problem.
The thing is, you're going to be very lucky as a business if you encounter anyone who hasn't experienced at least one traumatising event - most of us don't make it to adulthood without encountering trauma at least in passing.
A 'traumatising event'? What's that when it's at home?!
And I get it. I really do. It can seem as though everyone is "traumatised" and "triggered" these days, and, as a business leader, it can feel like something that's definitely not your problem.
The thing is, you're going to be very lucky as a business if you encounter anyone who hasn't experienced at least one traumatising event - most of us don't make it to adulthood without encountering trauma at least in passing.
A 'traumatising event'? What's that when it's at home?!
One of the primary aspects of becoming trauma-informed is recognising the distinction between a traumatising event, and a traumatising stimulus.
A traumatising event is what happened to you - it could be something as huge as being assaulted, or caught up in a terrorist attack or natural disaster, or as small as someone shouting at you at work, or not being able to buy something you were looking forward to. You don't get to choose what events are traumatising - that's an instant decision your body makes without consulting you. That's why it's important not to mock anyone for the things they experience as trauma. They didn't get to make a choice about how they were impacted.
A traumatising stimulus is the aspect of the traumatising event that your brain/body system is unable to fully process, to the point of understanding it, and knowing how to avoid it in the future.
For someone who has experienced a tornado or violent storm (traumatising event), the traumatising stimulus may be warning sirens, or the sound of tree branches creaking in the wind. Again, people do not get to choose the traumatising stimulus; it is an unconscious process handled exclusively by the body.
A trigger stimulus is something entirely neutral which reminds the brain/body system of the original traumatising event, and creates the same response that the traumatising stimulus provokes - for example, continuing with the idea of a severe storm as a traumatising event, someone's initial traumatising trigger from that event may be people screaming (for example, as trees are felled, or debris is thrown about), and their trigger stimulus may become raised voices (which the brain interprets, unconsciously, as "the same as" people screaming in fear.)
So? What's this got to do with me? People just need to get a grip!
And they can get a grip - but only if the mostly unconscious, and entirely automatic, process of responding to a traumatising event is allowed to fully complete.
This process - which takes place unconsciously, or at most subconsciously, within the holistic brain/body system looks like this:
1. The immediate emotional reaction to the event - eg, crying, shaking, becoming angry, being sick, etc.
2. The fight/flight/freeze/fawn response protocol - the process of the brain/body system deciding on the best response to the event: Attack (fight), run away (flight), do nothing (freeze), try and appease the aggressor (fawn).
3. Discharge - the brain/body system returning to a point of equilibrium having fully completed steps 1 & 2; discharge often looks like inappropriate laughter, trembling, chattering, crying, sighing, or yawning.
4. A cognitive exchange between the 'ancient' brain, and the frontal cortex - the 'ancient' brain deals with primal threats - hunger, cold, obvious threat fear - while the frontal cortex handles the more complex challenges highly organised, social, abstract-thinking lifeforms (of which humans are the primary example) experience. The ancient brain responds first, and usually inaccurately, insisting that the reason for the traumatising event is some kind of primal threat. The frontal cortex corrects the initial assumption, and draws from a store of psycho-social experience in order to more accurately interpret the traumatising event, and identify an effective solution to it, and ways to avoid it going forward.
For example, the primal brain may react to a manager raising their voice in a meeting by insisting "It's an apex predator about to attack us!" The frontal cortex steps in, and says: "No, it's not. It's just Julia; she's frustrated that we haven't been able to reach an agreement on how to proceed with this project. It's costing the company money for us to keep dealing with these delays, and we're not bringing in any income while we're trying to move forward here. Understandably, that's making Julia anxious, and she's probably under pressure from her boss to get a result, and get some money coming in."
The more social information the frontal cortex has, the more effectively it can respond to traumatising events in an appropriate manner.
This is why it's important for governments, schools, and parents to make it possible for people of all backgrounds and income levels to experience a diverse range of social situations; it ensures people have a large store of experiences their frontal cortex can draw on in response to challenging situations.
So what? What am I supposed to do about this?
This process - which takes place unconsciously, or at most subconsciously, within the holistic brain/body system looks like this:
1. The immediate emotional reaction to the event - eg, crying, shaking, becoming angry, being sick, etc.
2. The fight/flight/freeze/fawn response protocol - the process of the brain/body system deciding on the best response to the event: Attack (fight), run away (flight), do nothing (freeze), try and appease the aggressor (fawn).
3. Discharge - the brain/body system returning to a point of equilibrium having fully completed steps 1 & 2; discharge often looks like inappropriate laughter, trembling, chattering, crying, sighing, or yawning.
4. A cognitive exchange between the 'ancient' brain, and the frontal cortex - the 'ancient' brain deals with primal threats - hunger, cold, obvious threat fear - while the frontal cortex handles the more complex challenges highly organised, social, abstract-thinking lifeforms (of which humans are the primary example) experience. The ancient brain responds first, and usually inaccurately, insisting that the reason for the traumatising event is some kind of primal threat. The frontal cortex corrects the initial assumption, and draws from a store of psycho-social experience in order to more accurately interpret the traumatising event, and identify an effective solution to it, and ways to avoid it going forward.
For example, the primal brain may react to a manager raising their voice in a meeting by insisting "It's an apex predator about to attack us!" The frontal cortex steps in, and says: "No, it's not. It's just Julia; she's frustrated that we haven't been able to reach an agreement on how to proceed with this project. It's costing the company money for us to keep dealing with these delays, and we're not bringing in any income while we're trying to move forward here. Understandably, that's making Julia anxious, and she's probably under pressure from her boss to get a result, and get some money coming in."
The more social information the frontal cortex has, the more effectively it can respond to traumatising events in an appropriate manner.
This is why it's important for governments, schools, and parents to make it possible for people of all backgrounds and income levels to experience a diverse range of social situations; it ensures people have a large store of experiences their frontal cortex can draw on in response to challenging situations.
So what? What am I supposed to do about this?
Creating a trauma-informed workplace or team culture is straightforward, and doesn't actually cost anything - but it brings you the financial benefit of improved staff retention, as people feel safer and happier, and reduced absence costs - around 18million working days, an average of 3 days per year per worker - are lost to mental health impacts. In trauma-informed workplaces, that impact will be lessened, saving the company money, and saving your team the stress of dealing with staff shortages from unplanned absences.
To create a trauma-informed workplace you need to:
. Allow people to respond freely, and to say 'No' without negative or punitive consequences
To create a trauma-informed workplace you need to:
. Allow people to respond freely, and to say 'No' without negative or punitive consequences
. Allow people to have their immediate reaction to a trigger stimulus without judgement
. Create and allow genuine space and time for people to complete the unconscious processing protocol for trauma before you expect them to discuss the trigger situation, and their response to it.
. Except in situations of high risk, or criminal behaviour, create and enforce a company policy that conversations do not happen about team members without including those people.
People do not choose their trauma.
They do not choose their immediate, unconscious response to it.
What they choose is to being aware of, and insisting upon, space to allow the brain/body processing protocol to complete.
What they choose is the range and number of social situations they are exposed to, and thus the range and number of responses the frontal cortex has to draw on during the final part of the processing protocol.
What they choose is whether they learn the confidence and assertiveness to insist on boundaried time and space to deal more appropriately with their trauma responses.
As an employer, someone who controls where and how people spend a significant proportion of their waking hours, you are responsible for creating situations which support good, balanced, and appropriate choices.
They do not choose their immediate, unconscious response to it.
What they choose is to being aware of, and insisting upon, space to allow the brain/body processing protocol to complete.
What they choose is the range and number of social situations they are exposed to, and thus the range and number of responses the frontal cortex has to draw on during the final part of the processing protocol.
What they choose is whether they learn the confidence and assertiveness to insist on boundaried time and space to deal more appropriately with their trauma responses.
As an employer, someone who controls where and how people spend a significant proportion of their waking hours, you are responsible for creating situations which support good, balanced, and appropriate choices.
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