Strategy

Trauma-Informed Care and Training

What is it?

Trauma-informed care and training help early childhood educators understand how trauma impacts development and how to recognize and respond to the needs of children who experience trauma. Educators trained in trauma-informed care learn effective ways to interact with these children, such as helping them cope with triggers, maintaining predictable and consistent routines, using effective behavior management strategies, and equipping them with emotional regulation skills. 

What is the evidence base?

Trauma-informed care reduces children’s behavior problems, oppositional defiance, post-traumatic stress, risk of re-traumatization, and poor life outcomes. Additionally, children demonstrate improvements in their ability to pay attention. Trauma-informed training also helps providers identify and work through their own reactions to trauma. 

• Bartlett et al_2015_Trauma-Informed Care in the Massachusetts Child Trauma Project
• Holmes et al_2015_A Model for Creating Supportive Trauma-informed Culture for Children in Preschool Settings