1. Policy Statement
Family Promise of Puget Sound (FPOPS) is deeply committed to providing a safe, predictable, collaborative, and empowering environment for all families experiencing homelessness, as well as for our dedicated staff and volunteers. Recognizing that individuals experiencing homelessness have often been exposed to trauma and that the work itself can lead to trauma exposure response for helpers, FPOPS is committed to operating as a trauma-informed organization. This means integrating an understanding of the profound impact of trauma on individuals’ lives, behavior, and relationships into all aspects of our work – from policy development and service delivery to staff support and organizational culture.
2. Purpose
The purpose of this policy is to:
* Clearly articulate FPOPS’s commitment to a trauma-informed approach as a foundational principle guiding all operations and interactions.
* Ensure that all staff, volunteers, and organizational processes prioritize the physical, psychological, and emotional safety of both individuals and personnel.
* Minimize the risk of re-traumatization for families receiving services.
* Enhance the effectiveness of our services by understanding behavior as communication and responding in supportive, rather than punitive, ways.
* Support the well-being and resilience of staff and volunteers exposed to the impacts of trauma through the nature of their work.
* Foster a consistent, respectful, and healing-oriented environment throughout the organization.
* Align FPOPS practice with best practices in human services and potential regulatory expectations.
3. Scope
This policy applies to all aspects of Family Promise of Puget Sound’s operations, services, and interactions. This includes, but is not limited to:
* All FPOPS staff (paid and unpaid).
* All FPOPS volunteers.
* All FPOPS board members.
* All individuals receiving FPOPS services.
* All facilities and locations where FPOPS activities occur.
4. Guiding Principles
FPOPS’s trauma-informed practice is guided by the following core principles, adapted from widely recognized frameworks and informed by our mission and values:
* Safety: Ensuring physical, psychological, and emotional safety for everyone involved with FPOPS. This includes maintaining a secure and predictable environment and minimizing the potential for re-traumatization.
* Trustworthiness and Transparency: Conducting all interactions and operations with transparency and predictability, building and maintaining trust with individuals, staff, volunteers, and partners. Policies and procedures should be clear and accessible.
* Peer Support and Mutual Help: Fostering connections and shared experiences among staff and volunteers to build community, resilience, and address the impacts of trauma exposure response (Trauma Stewardship). This principle also extends to supporting peer-based support among individuals where appropriate.
* Collaboration and Mutuality: Partnering with individuals in their journey, sharing power in decision-making processes wherever possible, and recognizing that healing happens in relationships. Policies should support collaboration and avoid imposing solutions.
* Empowerment, Voice, and Choice: Supporting individuals and personnel in feeling empowered and having a voice in their experiences and the organization. This involves recognizing individual strengths, validating experiences, and supporting self-advocacy and self-determination. Providing choices and options, particularly during stressful situations, is key.
* Cultural, Historical, and Gender Issues: Actively acknowledging and addressing historical, cultural, and gender-specific trauma, and recognizing the role of cultural humility in providing services.
* Understanding Trauma’s Impact: Operating with an understanding of the prevalence and impact of trauma on brain development, behavior, and health, and how this may manifest in interactions. This informs responses, shifting from “What’s wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”.
5. Definition of Trauma-Informed Practice
For the purpose of this policy, Trauma-Informed Practice refers to an organizational approach that recognizes the widespread impact of trauma, understands potential paths for recovery, recognizes the signs and symptoms of trauma in individuals, families, staff, and others involved with the system, and responds by fully integrating knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices, and actively resisting re-traumatization.
6. Implementing Trauma-Informed Practice: Expectations and Procedures
All FPOPS staff, volunteers, and processes will strive to embody the principles of trauma-informed practice through:
* Interactions with Individuals: Approaching all interactions with empathy, patience, and non-judgment. Prioritizing individual safety, choice, and control wherever possible. Understanding challenging behaviors as potential expressions of trauma responses or unmet needs. Using de-escalation techniques that prioritize verbal and non-physical intervention. Valuing and actively seeking individual feedback and involvement in their service planning.
* Interactions with Colleagues: Fostering a supportive work environment where staff and volunteers feel safe to discuss the emotional impact of their work, including trauma exposure response. Providing peer support and mutual help. Treating each other with respect, transparency, and dignity. Policies like Anti-Harassment and Professional Communication support this.
* Supervision and Professional Development: Utilizing supervision as a dedicated space for reflection, critical practice, stress management, and processing the emotional demands of the work. Ensuring access to training on trauma, its impact, and trauma-informed approaches. Encouraging self-care practices (Trauma Stewardship).
* Policy and Program Development: Reviewing existing and developing new policies, procedures, and programs through a trauma-informed lens to ensure they promote safety, choice, control, collaboration, and are sensitive to trauma triggers. This includes policies related to consultation, assessment, case management, and service delivery.
* Physical Environment: Creating physical spaces that are welcoming, safe, and minimize potential triggers for individuals who have experienced trauma.
7. Responsibilities
* Board of Directors: Ensure organizational commitment to trauma-informed practice through policy approval, resource allocation, and strategic oversight.
* CEO and Leadership: Champion trauma-informed practice throughout the organization, allocate resources for training and support, ensure policies are aligned, and model trauma-informed behavior.
* Supervisors/Program Directors: Implement this policy within their teams, provide trauma-informed supervision and support, ensure staff/volunteer adherence to principles, and address challenges.
* All Staff and Volunteers: Integrate trauma-informed principles into daily practice and interactions, prioritize safety, engage in reflective practice, seek support as needed, and contribute to a trauma-informed culture.
8. Training and Development
FPOPS is committed to providing comprehensive training on trauma and trauma-informed practice to all staff and volunteers. This includes initial orientation and ongoing professional development opportunities, tailored to specific roles and responsibilities. Training will cover the prevalence and impact of trauma, recognizing trauma responses, principles of trauma-informed care, de-escalation techniques, and strategies for self-care and addressing trauma exposure response.
9. Policy Review and Revision
This policy will be reviewed annually by the CEO and Board of Directors, or more frequently as needed, to ensure its continued relevance, effectiveness, and alignment with best practices, emerging research, and the evolving needs of families and the organization. Any revisions will be communicated to all relevant personnel.