“Trauma is the invisible force that shapes our lives. It shapes the way we live, the way we love and the way we make sense of the world. It is the root of our deepest wounds…” - Gabor Mate
A trauma-informed reinvestment plan is made up of strategies that bear in mind a given community’s sense of collective trauma, applying sound economics towards equitable community investment. This encompasses the following desired outcomes:
“We have learned that trauma is not just an event that took place sometime in the past; it is also the imprint left by that experience on mind, brain, and body. This imprint has ongoing consequences for how the human organism manages to survive in the present.” - Bessel van der Kolk
Trauma-informed Community Building is a model for strengthening community in trauma affected neighborhoods. Below are examples of how we have been modeling a trauma-informed approach in our community, in partnership with our partner Go Gulfport.
What does being trauma-informed mean?
Generally speaking, being trauma informed means having an understanding that most people [and communities] at some point will experience trauma and that may impact how they relate to and engage with organizations, services and individuals. So a trauma informed approach would seek to mitigate the impact of trauma.
What is trauma-informed community engagement?
There are general principles that underpin a trauma informed approach, eg safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration and empowerment.” That withstanding, it can be said that our approach to community building, along side of identifying the assets, anxieties and dreams of our community, is to do so in such a way as to “do no harm.
What is the differrence between a typical community reinvestment plan and a trauma-informed community reinvestment plan?
A typical community reinvestment plan is often driven by a set of economic assumptions ill-informed about the extent to which past trauma has had an affect on individuals, interpersonal relationships, communities, and systems.