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Trauma-Informed Practice


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Good Shepherd Services works with many women and young people in our domestic violence, foster care, juvenile justice and family counseling programs who have been traumatized due to the stress and violence that they have experienced. As a result, their behavior and ability to cope has often been impaired. In searching for interventions, we have found that the Sanctuary Model of trauma-informed practice has been most effective.

The Sanctuary Model is based on theories of trauma and attachment and was originally developed for use in adult inpatient psychiatric settings. It has since been adapted for use in other environments including group homes for children and adolescents. This trauma-informed method addresses the special treatment needs of our youth and also serves to strengthen interpersonal skills through teaching emotional management techniques, helping to build cognitive abilities and providing the tools with which youth can build their social connection skills and establish healthy attachment relationships.

A trauma-informed method for creating organizational change and providing more comprehensive client care, the Sanctuary Model consists of two key components: the creation of a therapeutic environment designed to help people develop healthy attachments; and psycho-education geared toward emotional, social, cognitive and behavioral recovery from trauma. Good Shepherd Services was Sanctuary certified in 2012.

Sanctuary helps us to maintain a safe, nurturing environment, and to provide a range of therapeutic interventions for corrective growth by addressing the special treatment needs of youth with emotional and behavioral disturbances and histories of maltreatment or exposure to domestic and community violence. As a result, we are confident to proclaim that Good Shepherd Services truly creates and maintains a trauma-sensitive culture that fosters movement towards healing, growth and change.

Learn about our Center for Trauma-Informed Practice,  a new initiative that seeks to deepen trauma-informed practice among social-service providers through workshops, learning journeys, resources and building communities of practice, which implement and sustain high quality trauma-informed services and promote healing in individuals, families, communities and organizations.

Barbara Blum Mural

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