How to bring trauma informed care to life
Whether you’ve been practicing for decades, are in your first few years, or are simply committed to making trauma-informed care the centre of your work, taking the time to revisit its principles is a powerful act of professional care.
For me, trauma-informed care is no longer just a professional interest - it’s personal. My passion has been shaped by my own lived experience of trauma, and of receiving both trauma-informed and not-so-trauma-informed care throughout my recovery. The moments of care that weren’t trauma-informed left marks that still linger. They were impactful, but not for the right reasons. At times they were incredibly harmful, even though there’s no doubt harm wasn’t the intention.
Our clients’ experiences are no different. Every interaction, whether in a therapy room, a school corridor, or a brief check-in, has the potential to either deepen safety and trust, or erode it.
Recently, I revisited the six trauma-informed care principles in my own practice. Through this process I completely redesigned my entire onboarding and intake processes with them at the centre, as well as the pricing structure of my fees. This has reminded me: trauma-informed care isn’t just a framework for practice. It’s a way of being. Something we carry into every conversation, every decision, every relationship that we have in our professional and personal life.
In this post, I briefly explore the five principles of trauma-informed practice, as well as some gentle ideas you can easily implement into your day-to-day practice. Finally, I unpack my onboarding, intake and pricing structure as a case study in how I’ve integrated these principles into my practice and processes.
The Six Principles and Bringing Them to Life
If you’re new to learning about the six trauma-informed care principles or need a refresher, here’s a quick overview. If you’re keen to learn more about them in depth and more ways about how you can integrate these principles into your practice, purchase my on-demand training ‘Trauma Responsive Care in Child Therapy’.
1. Safety
Think beyond physical safety. How do your words, body language, and environment convey emotional and psychological safety?
Try this: At the start of each session, take a moment to orient clients to the space, explain what will happen, and invite them to let you know if they need a break.
2. Trustworthiness & Transparency
Trust grows when clients understand what is happening and why.
Try this: Narrate your process, even the little things. “I’m writing this down so I can remember what’s important to you” can go a long way in building trust.
3. Collaboration & Mutuality
Power imbalances can feel enormous to clients impacted by trauma. We can soften them by inviting shared decision-making and collaboration.
Try this: Offer two or three options for how to approach a piece of work, and ask, “What feels right for you today?”
4. Empowerment, Voice & Choice
When life has been shaped by experiences outside of one’s control, choice is healing.
Try this: Involve clients in setting session goals, and ask them to name what’s most important for them to leave with.
5. Cultural, Historical & Gender Awareness
Identity shapes how people experience the world and the systems around them.
Try this: Ask open questions about what parts of a client’s culture, history, or identity feel important to honour in your work together.
Case Study: Integrating Trauma-Informed Principles into Onboarding, Intake and Pricing
I wanted to share a brief case study from my own practice, as a way of making these principles tangible and showing how they can live not just in the therapy room, but in the systems and processes that surround the work.
Before revisiting the trauma-informed care principles, there were parts of my onboarding and intake process that worked well, but also areas that unintentionally created friction or uncertainty for families. For example, I would often wait until the intake appointment to talk through my availability with parents. At times, this meant families invested time and emotional energy only to realise that appointment times didn’t suit their schedules. While unintentional, this didn’t fully align with transparency or respect for their time.
I also noticed gaps in how children were being prepared for therapy. While families received a welcome pack, there wasn’t a child-friendly way of introducing who I was or what sessions might involve. The welcome materials also didn’t always clearly explain what would happen next, or why certain questions were asked during intake. And my fee structure, while simple, didn’t always reflect the realities of access and equity.
Revisiting the trauma-informed care principles gave me a clear framework for re-imagining these processes.
Now, from the very first point of contact, families are informed of my availability and offered options that might suit their needs. This small shift supports transparency, choice, and collaboration right from the outset.
I’ve also created child-friendly handouts that introduce who I am and what we’ll do together in sessions. These are designed to promote safety, predictability, and trust, helping children feel oriented before they even walk through the door.
The welcome pack has been rewritten to clearly outline what to expect during the intake appointment and why certain topics are discussed. Importantly, I’ve been explicit that families can say no to questions if they’re not ready. This acknowledges autonomy and supports both choice and collaboration.
Finally, I introduced access-based fees. This means that families or practitioners who are experiencing financial or other circumstances that make accessing support difficult may be eligible for lower session fees. This shift reflects trustworthiness, fairness, and an acknowledgement of how culture, history, gender, and broader systems impact access to care.
None of these changes were about doing more. They were about doing things more intentionally through a trauma-informed lens that considers how safety, trust, and empowerment are communicated long before therapy formally begins.
A Moment for Reflection
I invite you to pause and notice:
Which principles do you naturally integrate into your work without even thinking?
Where do you feel steady and confident, and where might there be room to grow?
Can you recall a recent moment where one of these principles shaped your approach? What was the impact?
If a child or parent described their experience with you, what would you hope they’d say?
You might choose to jot your answers in a journal, share them with a trusted peer, or bring them into supervision.
Taking It Further
If you’d like to delve further into the five trauma-informed care principles and practical ways you can easily integrate these into your practice, purchase the ‘Trauma-Responsive Practice in Child Therapy’ on-demand training.
If you’d like a safe, judgment-free space to explore how these principles can be embedded more deeply into your unique setting, our group supervision space specifically designed to explore trauma responsive practice can offer exactly that. Together, we can look at the small, practical shifts that can make a big difference in how clients experience you and your service.
Thank you for the work you do. Thank you for holding space where children, parents, and families can grow and thrive. And thank you for letting me show up in your inbox, inviting curiosity and reflection on the heart of your practice.
Kind regards,
Ashleigh
