Trauma-Informed Strengths-Based Strategies for Career Practitioners

20/08/2024

Sibel Gundogdu is a consultant for the Berry Street Education Model. She has extensive teaching experience in international schools and primary, secondary, and TAFE settings across metro and regional areas, with a focus on supporting the wellbeing of young people in communities of intergenerational and educational inequity. She successfully led state-wide student re-engagement programs, developing the capacity of schools in collaborative ways of working with students at risk.

In the domain of career development, understanding and addressing the diverse needs of individuals who have or may experience stress overload or trauma is essential. Trauma can have a profound impact on a person's ability to engage in career planning and development.

The Berry Street Education Model (BSEM), with its roots in trauma-informed education, provides helpful insights and strategies for career practitioners to better support their clients. By creating nurturing and empowering environments, we can help foster healing, growth, and success.

Understanding trauma

Berry Street defines trauma as an overwhelming experience that can undermine the individual’s belief that the world is good and safe. This can result from a single, one-off, or prolonged event/s occurring during the persons developmental years when something that shouldn’t have happened – did, or when something that should have happened - didn’t.

It is imperative to note that the event itself will not determine the outcome of trauma but rather, the individual’s response to the event along with exposure to protective factors following the event. These protective factors may include their - health, education, emotional and social intelligence, sense of belonging and past experiences of achievement, stable family structures and family social support, access to community services and support organisations and programs.

Acknowledging the signs of trauma

No two experiences of trauma will be identical, therefore, signs of trauma can manifest in various ways. In order to effectively support clients, it is useful for career practitioners to recognise these signs, which may include;

difficulty concentrating on conversations and tasks
difficulty making decisions and maintaining confidence in those decisions
distorted beliefs about oneself, others, and/or the world
emotional outbursts which could persist or dissipate quickly
withdrawal including an unwillingness to engage in or attend scheduled appointments
hypervigilance or excessive worry regarding present or future circumstances
prolonged feelings of sadness or hopelessness
challenges forming meaningful relationships
barries in perceiving, understanding, and regulating emotions
physiological symptoms such as stomach aches, headache and/or fatigue
slower progression in reaching developmental milestones and/or career objectives

The importance of a trauma-informed approach

Experience indicates that people who have been impacted by trauma could significantly benefit from therapeutic support in the form of counsellors, psychologists and other mental health and allied professionals. However, in our day-to-day interactions with clients, we don’t have to be therapists to integrate a therapeutic and trauma-informed approach into our work.

A trauma-informed approach involves understanding, recognising, and appropriately responding to the widespread impacts of trauma while considering the physiological, psychological, and emotional safety for both clients and practitioners. By establishing and promoting an environment of healing and growth, we can strengthen knowledge and understanding about trauma throughout all aspects of the practice.

Career practitioners can use trauma-informed principles to help people have positive and empowering interactions and experience support in their learning and vocational pathways.

Berry Street Education Model: A framework for support

BSEM is built around key domains - Body, Relationship, Stamina, Engagement, and Character. Each domain presents strategies which can be adapted to career practice.

Body: Understanding physiological responses to trauma and exploring strategies to de-escalate and regulate. This can be achieved through:

creating and maintaining safe environments: ensuring that the physical and emotional environment is welcoming, supportive, and safe
co-regulation: using your own calm, de-escalated presence to support clients to manage their own emotions and responses
consistency and predictability: being consistent in actions and decisions to build safety through predictability
encouraging and planning for regular breaks: reducing stress and supporting regulation
incorporating mindfulness: supporting clients feelings and staying grounded
promoting physical movement: meeting physical and energetic needs and enhancing focus and calm

Relationship: Strengthening relationships through micro moments of connection. This can be achieved through:

collaboration and mutuality: building strong and respectful relationships between practitioners and clients, where power differences are balanced
building rapport: through consistent, empathetic, and unbiased interactions
validating clients’ emotions and experiences: with curiosity and without judgment
avoiding blame: approaching clients with empathy, avoiding blame, and recognising unhelpful behaviours as attempts to meet a need

Stamina: Fostering resilience and growth mindsets. This can be achieved through:

setting manageable goals: breaking up goals into smaller targets and providing continuous encouragement and validation
celebrating small wins: boosting clients' confidence and motivation through recognition of achievements
using timers: chunking sessions and reinforcing breaks

Engagement: Encouraging active participation. This can be achieved through:

using relevant and relatable materials: to maintain interest and provide information in a meaningful way
applying a strengths-based approach: to highlight clients' skills and abilities
creating interactive and dynamic sessions: providing space for the clients voice to keep them involved in each step of the process

Character: Establishing the role of values and strengths in service of career goals. This can be achieved through:

mapping goals with a hope-mindset: establishing career goals which are intrinsically motivating to the client and considering counter intentions of staying the same vs. achieving the goal
empowering clients: focusing on clients' strengths, not deficits, and encouraging autonomy and informed decision-making
encouraging self-reflection and awareness: supporting clients to better understand themselves and their responses to the environment
fostering social skills: through role-playing and communication exercises relevant to their career goals
emphasise the importance of self-care and personal well-being: modelling pro-social behaviours and self-care techniques to demonstrate the need to take care of our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing

Finally, a trauma-informed approach prioritises person centred practice, so it is always a good idea to ask the client what they believe they need from the environment, relationship, and processes to feel safe and empowered while exploring career pathways and setting vocational goals.

While career development practitioners aspire to provide advice, training, and support for clients to enter or remain in the workforce, they also seek to equip them with developmental skills such as problem-solving, communication, adaptability, and initiative. These growth aspects can be facilitated by focusing on and highlighting client strengths and supporting them in recognising what they need to thrive.