Whether your in a helping profession or you’ve experienced trauma in some way this post may be for you or someone you know.
In recent years, there has been more recognition of the impact that trauma can have on mental and physical health. For those of us who have experienced trauma, we’ve known this the whole time, but the formal conversation adds validation.
For myself, it feels like being seen.
When I started coaching just over seven years ago, I knew that I wanted to support people as fully as possible. I also knew that there would be limitations to my scope of practice until I added more credentials and education. While my practice has changed a bit over the years, the fundamental belief that we can’t ignore parts of ourselves has always been true in how I work with clients.
This idea stemmed from how I had not be treated by trainers, therapists, primary care providers – and let’s be honest: The Internet.
My public health coursework further pulled me into the importance of intersectionality, social determinants of health and honoring lived experiences. After a few years of working with clients I learned about trauma-informed care, and obtained a professional development certificate in trauma-informed care focusing in veterans from the University of Indiana Bloomington through a collaboration between the IU Center for Rural Engagement, IU School of Public Health-Bloomington, and the IU School of Social Work.
I’ve since obtained a second certification as a trauma-informed coach, which expanded on the basic principles of TIC and included information and work around addiction and substances, homelessness, chronic illness as well as childhood trauma other traditional topics.
Trauma-informed coaching is a powerful approach to support individuals in their healing journey. By integrating principles of trauma-informed care into coaching practices, we can create a safe and nurturing space that fosters growth, resilience, and overall well-being.
Understanding Trauma and its Effects
I want to reiterate – I’m not a therapist. I don’t diagnose. I don’t treat diagnosed conditions in the way that we think of treatment. When appropriate I will introduce the topic of therapy to clients or refer them back to their current behavioral health providers.
I also believe that coaches need to understand trauma.
Traditional coaching may inadvertently trigger trauma responses, hindering progress and exacerbating distress. This not only puts the client at risk, it also puts a coach at risk. Trauma-informed coaching takes into account the forms of trauma that a client could experience (including micro-agressions) and aims to create an environment that promotes safety, trust, and empowerment of voice and choice.
Being trauma-informed doesn’t mean you have all the answers, but it does mean you extend empathy and understanding about how experience plays a role in our thoughts and behaviors, and therefore shape conversations to give clients the best support possible.
Key Principles of Trauma-Informed Coaching
- Safety First: Establishing a sense of safety is crucial. Trauma survivors often struggle with feelings of vulnerability, so creating a secure space is important for building trust. Coaches should prioritize safety by setting clear boundaries, communicating transparently, and allowing clients to move at their own pace. While coaches bring a wealth of knowledge, your client knows their body, their life better than you do. Our job is to listen and guide them, with some education sprinkled in too.
- Trust and Transparency: Building a trusting relationship is foundational to trauma-informed coaching. Coaches should prioritize transparency in their approach, ensuring clients feel informed and in control of their healing journey with unbiased information. Trust is nurtured through empathy, active listening, and a non-judgmental attitude. Trust may also be developed through some relatedness, use your discretion about what you share. In my practice, my clients know I have PTSD, anxiety and depression, and have recovered from an eating disorder. I don’t center my experiences, but I’ve shared stories as it made sense in coaching to build rapport and break the ice with vulnerability.
- Empowerment and Choice: Trauma-informed coaching emphasizes the importance of empowering clients. Giving individuals a sense of control over their decisions and choices is crucial for rebuilding a sense of agency. Obviously, there are limitations to empowerment – we can’t change societal systems, but within the space of things we can control, feeling “allowed to” can be detrimental to developing acceptance. Coaches can achieve this by offering options, validating autonomy, and collaborating on goal-setting.
Practical Tips for Integrating Trauma-Informed Principles into Daily Life
- Mindful Awareness: Foster self-awareness by practicing mindfulness. This doesn’t inherently mean yoga, and if you’re neurodiverse this may be really challenging. I encourage clients to engage in activities that help them slow down enough to notice the moment. This may be active meditation like recognizing how the soap feels while doing the dishes, it could be deep breathing too.
- Journaling for Reflection: Journaling as a tool for reflection can be really helpful. It also can be anxiety inducing for some, especially if there are expectations of perfection. A bulleted list is STILL journaling. Writing down your thoughts and feelings. It doesn’t have to be insightful at all, but it could be.
- Healthy Boundaries: Advocate for creating healthy boundaries in personal and professional relationships. Understanding and communicating boundaries is necessary for safety. This doesn’t mean building a wall to keep everyone out, but building a bridge to let the right people in.
- Self-Compassion: This was a hard one for me, and sometimes still is. I encourage clients to treat themselves with kindness and understanding like they would a friend. Sometimes we need to remove ourselves a little bit to have some clearer thinking. Healing is a journey, and setbacks are a natural part of the process.
- Connect with Supportive Communities: Finding your community isn’t always easy and sometimes it can feel like you’re jumping from group to group. But not all rooms are meant for us. You deserve to belong. Support groups or online forums can be just as helpful as in-person connections. Having a network of understanding individuals helps us maintain our boundaries and ofter self-compassion.
Coaching can create a transformative environment for healing, especially when collaborating with a client’s therapist or counselor. These tips can serve as a guide to introduce you to TIC and how it’s meant for everyone, not just those who have experienced trauma. These tips don’t replace certification or training, individualized coaching, therapy or counseling.
If you’re interested in coaching, please reach out and let’s talk cristina@healthcoachcristina.com. If you’re also interested in finding a therapist or counselor in your area, please check out my resource page.
