Prioritizing Trauma-Informed Care

Burn Prevention Network is committed to empowering burn survivors and their families. In that, we are passionate about prioritizing trauma-informed care when working with those affected by burn injuries, as the trauma they experience is more than skin-deep. To strengthen our leadership and board members’ knowledge, understanding, and skills in relation to trauma-informed care, Burn Prevention Network reached out to the experts at Pinebrook Family Answers for supplementary trauma-informed care training.

Pinebrook Family Answers is a certified trauma-informed care agency in Allentown, PA. As a community-based agency, Pinebrook’s mission is to nurture, empower, and support children, families, and seniors throughout the Lehigh Valley through trauma-informed care practices. Vicky Cohen, Pinebrook’s director of community-based mental health programs, met with the BPN staff and Camp Susquehanna Leadership Team for a virtual, 90-minute trauma-informed care training session. Passionate about supporting community members, Vicky provides training to organizations throughout the Valley upon request. “We want to get people to feel empowered, and we can do that by making people feel safe,” said Vicky.

To better understand trauma, throughout the training session, attendees explored the definition of trauma, the science behind it, its effect on the brain, and how it can affect one’s behavior and emotions in their day-to-day lives. Vicky talked the attendees through the ACEs (Adverse Childhood Experiences) evaluation, which works to determine the depth of one’s trauma, and helps others better understand the impact that one’s childhood can have on their outlook, behavior, and mental well-being. The training also focused heavily on the five pillars of trauma-informed care: safety, choice, collaboration, trustworthiness, and empowerment. These concepts are vital to providing trauma-informed care and ensuring an individual’s emotional and physical safety while coping with trauma’s effects.

Because BPN works directly with burn survivors, ensuring their comfort and safety, regardless of their individual traumas, is a priority. Many of the burn survivors we work with deal with trauma outside of their burn injuries, and it’s essential to BPN that we support them in every way possible.