Mindful Happiness

Anthony Quintiliani, Ph.D, LADC

  • Home
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
    • About
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Contact

September 28, 2016 By Admin

Absolute Basics of Trauma Informed Care

Trauma Informed Care – The Absolute Basics

This post aims at providing a very basic introduction to Trauma Informed Care.  Advanced versions of this information are available from the author.  So what is Trauma Informed Care (hereafter TIC)?  Below I have listed rationales of need and core characteristics of TIC in organizations.mindfulhappiness-tic

Why We Need Trauma Informed Care?

The 2012 (revised 2016) National Survey of Children’s Health (Vermont Sample) documented significant levels of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ages 1 to 17)  and Adverse Family Experiences. This data is supported by ongoing assessment of ACEs in Vermont and in the nation. Some information paints a picture of serious psychological and physical needs in Vermont.  Such data include a 25% divorce/separation rate; a 25% family financial hardship rate; 10 to 15% rate of children living in a family of substance use or mental health disorders; 43% of children experiencing depression and/or anxiety; and, 33% experiencing behavioral/conduct problems. Vermont has a significant percentage of its children suffering from three-four or more ACEs.  Add all this to the out-of-control substance abuse/dependence nationalsurveyofchildrenshealthproblems in Vermont and the nation. The final picture is a very sad one.  Trauma Informed Care, better training of clinical and medical personnel, required documentation of better clinical outcomes are all part of an improving picture of better biopsychosocial-spiritual development for children and youth.

Some Core Principles and Practices of Trauma Informed Care:

  1. Personal healing, resilience, and happiness are all possible over time.
  2. Staff must recognize and respond effectively to personal trauma histories and various, complex developmental consequences.
  3. Powerful self-safety in the environment and relationships is an absolute requirement of care.
  4. Trust and transparency go hand-in-hand with systemic trauma recovery.
  5. Advanced, effective trauma therapy requires more than conducive constructivist and systemic variables. Trauma therapy requires an expanded skills set within the same trusting relationship.
  6. All parties and their unique contributions are valued and respected in TIC.
  7. Strong compassion skills and processes work together with improved executive and limbic brain functioning. Concrete skills practice is part of the healing process.
  8. The science of prevention and the science of treatment are integrated in TIC.traumainformedcare_mindfulhappiness
  9. Assessment is continuous and includes both primary and secondary trauma realities.
  10. On-going staff training and an emphasis on staff self-care are necessary for TIC to work well. Typical “burn-out” practices are not part of this picture.
  11. Protective factors are enhanced, and health promotion and risk reduction are always implemented.
  12. Within relational interactions object constancy, the realities of nature and nurture, and powerful alliance patterns all exist.
  13. Mindfulness practices, breathing retraining, and trauma-informed yoga may be added interventions. Much trauma treatment is moving into the body, beyond simply talking and thinking.
  14. Awareness of and responsiveness to ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) and AFE (Adverse Family Experiences) are on-going.
  15. Ultimately, TIC is part of psychosocial and clinical process that hopes to repair the dearth of healthy early life attachment. Improved object relations goes a long way toward healing.
  16. Healthy power-sharing reduces marginalization and hopelessness. Hope and empowerment are “musts” for client/consumer populations in recovery.
  17. In some cases, my premise that “we all are in recovery from something” may be part of this process.  This reality make us more like our clients/consumers – not “above” them.
  18. Needs are projected; needs are met; arousal is reduced; and, relaxed relationships continue.
  19. In the best outcomes safety, security, trust, self-regulation, hope, and healing will occur over time.
  20. In some ways D.W. Winnicott, the famous British pediatrician turned psychoanalyst, would be very, very happy with the core “intersubjective” holding environment of TIC.

For more information refer to Quintiliani, A. R. (February, 2016). Trauma Informed Care…Monkton, VT: Self-Published.  See also Kasehagen, L. (2012, 2016). National Survey of Children’s Health – Vermont Sample. Vt. Department of Health/CDC.

By Anthony R. Quintiliani, PhD., LADC

From the Eleanor R. Liebman Center for Secular Meditation in Monkton, Vermont

ChiYinYang_EleanorRLiebmanCenter

Author of Mindful Happiness  

Mindful Happiness cover designs.indd

New Edition of Mindful Happiness in Production…Coming soon!

Filed Under: Featured, Trauma Informed Care Tagged With: ANTHONY QUINTILIANI, MINDFUL HAPPINESS, TIC, TRAUMA INFORMED CARE

Twitter

Mindful Happiness -Currently in Production

Mindful Happiness Posts

Subtle and Direct Experiences of Happiness Khenpo Sherab Zangpo’s 2017 publication The Path: A Guide to Happiness, Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications has much to offer about how to become a happier person.  Read over the listing below and see what you may be missing. Try this mantra: “I am happy the way I am.” “I am happy […]

Zen Buddhist Emptiness and Christian Centering Prayer Recently Ken McLeod presented “Freedom of Choice” as a way to differentiate forms of spiritual materialism and emotional escapism from serious Buddhist practice.  He noted The Heart Sutra negations. There is no attainment for bodhisattvas as they pursue the perfection of wisdom. Ultimately, everything is empty. He refers […]

Helping Professions and Emotional Balance Helping professions must practice to achieve emotional balance.  Working conditions for the helping professions have become more and more difficult over time, especially with the advent of so called “helpful technologies” and ever-increasing governmental/funding requirements for documentation.  When I started in the (behavioral health) field of clinical psychology and addictions […]

Alternative to Buddhism as Religion   – Simply put and Clearly Stated In case you become too serious about yourself in this life, note that there are reportedly 400 trillion subatomic vibrations every second. So be humble! And being humble is something I have had to do regarding my experience with Zen Buddhism as my […]

Meditation for Managers and Helpers  Let’s Talk – Contact Me – Click Here I am a Licensed Psychologist-Doctorate and a Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselor with 35 years of clinical experience in community clinics, schools, professional organizations, and universities (OSU, UVM, etc.). I have been the past Clinical Director of Howard Center, and Past President […]

 Poem on the Wind   I am quite pleased with my experience on BEING in the wind today.  This poem will suggest that you allow the wind to be a metaphor – even a fantasy – that allows your pain and suffering to be swept away by the endless, gentle, blowing wind of nature. We […]

Pathways for Coping with Loss and Grief Jeanne Cacciatore, a Zen priest and bereavement specialist, offer sound advice on the process of loss and grieving.  In her book, Bearing the Unbearable: Love and the Heart Breaking Path of Grief (2016), she presents the process as a series of contractions and expansions; contractions are the inward path of […]

Insights – Vipassana Mediation There will be future, more advanced vipassana meditations posted on the site. For now, however, we will end this series with a final post about the insights often experienced via vipassana meditation. We learn via experience about impermanence, suffering and its causes, no-self, emptiness and many other things – or, perhaps, […]

Cognitive Defusion in Mindfulness Psychotherapy A well-meaning therapist might ask: What is cognitive defusion. Well this practice, as used in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, is beyond cognitive restructuring of cognitive distortions and automatic negative thoughts ( I call “Red Ants”). The practice concretely de-literalizes the personal truth and meaning of unhelpful, repetitive thoughts and words. […]

More on Self-Compassion Practices Suffering and happiness represent opposites in human emotional experience.  In our culture we often equate happiness with what we HAVE and suffering with the GAP between what we have versus what we want.  Material possessions tend not to lead to intrinsic happiness; joy based on materials gains is often short-lived – […]

Stress in America – On the Rise – The American Psychological Association recently completed its national survey on stress in America.  Stress in America for adults is on the rise! I will review below a selection of reported percentages from the 2015 survey (published in 2016). 1)  Younger people are more stressed; Xers and Millennials […]

Happiness #5 – Last Post on Characteristics This will be my last post for a while on the important topic of happiness.  Here I will hit a few highlights about simple joy and lasting inner experiences of true happiness. Simple Joy – We experience simple joy in simple experiences, small sometimes subtle events in our […]

What is Mindfulness  – The Nature of Mindfulness This is an expanded second post on the nature of mindfulness.  This post will begin with secular understandings, and end with basic spiritual path information.  Generally mindfulness is a wide-ranging process with a special noticing quality.  It focuses the power of attention leading to improved concentration.  Mindfulness […]

Essential Knowledge for Clinical Supervisors This post will include information and skills dealing with research on role induction practices, quality of clinical supervision, psychodynamics of alliance, and progress measurement.  Since the information and skills for all these topics is complex, I will do my best to keep it as clear as possible. This information aims […]

Stress in America – 2019 Every year the American Psychological Association ( November, 2019) conducts an extensive survey to determine the levels of stress in America. The data below does NOT include children; therefore, the already high numbers would be much higher. Here are some highlights. Stress levels are quite high but stable. Increased concerns […]

 A Practice To  Help Prevent Alzheimer Disease Kirtan Kriya meditation is part of the ancient Kundalini yoga tradition.  Current clinical research dealing with prevention of Alzheimer disease supports its use in medical meditation.  As G. Harrison (The Beatles fame) noted: As you move attention beyond yourself, you may find peace of mind is there.  Sanskrit root […]

About Interoception and It’s Importance Interoception (some may also call it neuroception) is the conscious detection and perception of sensory signals in the body and on the skin. Most often these signals are processed as sensations.  Sensation, as the foundation of emotional experience, is always there in our bodies; however, we are not always fully […]

Calming Your Self-Critical Self with Mindfulness A core problem for many people is their incessant self (or other) criticism. This is a major part of our psychological mind suffering today. In the past life for most people was more difficult, so human basic needs were the energized priorities; today so many of us have been […]

Introducing Your Clients to Brief Meditations Psychotherapists often ask  about ways to introduce mindfulness and meditation to clients.  There are other posts on this Blog that offer basic introductory information on both content and process. Here I will simply introduce you to four brief, basic meditations for clients suffering from anxiety and/or depression, along with […]

Meditation at the Deepest Levels In 2007 M. A. Singer’s The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself, opened up a whole new, deeper perspective on why consciousness or pure awareness is the root of self. Even in a Buddhist  “no-self” view, Singer’s inquiries leave us with a great deal to unravel.  Here are some reasons why […]

Mindful Categories

Mindful Happiness Pages

  • About
  • Contact
  • Dr. Anthony Quintiliani
  • Mindful Expressions Meditation CD
  • Mindful Happiness
  • Site Map

Copyright © 2023 · Mindful Happiness