The Biblical Perspective Of Trauma Informed Care
What is Trauma Informed Care?
1. Recognizing the effects of trauma and what it does to the brain.
Ecc 7:7 – “Surely oppression destroys a wise man’s reason”
Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death”
All the ACE’S in the ACE study are sins committed against a child. Sin is very adverse, and cannot be normalized. The scriptures show that sin is very adverse, and all the sins listed in the ACE studies have very traumatizing effects on children. (See my post “Trauma, ACE’S, What The Bible Says About It”)
2. Listening - Listening is not just hearing words, but observing body language and seeing the signs that the person may have suffered trauma. Also providing an environment where they can talk about their trauma. Listening also looks for possible triggers in a person, and looks for ways to minister to them based on what is observed on a person. Listening is also collaborating with a person. Listening is also gathering information and identifying a person’s concerns. It also validates the other person’s concerns and treats their concerns with equal value as your own. Listening also helps those who have difficulty in communicating their concerns, and takes interest in them.
It is important for someone who has been traumatized to be heard and understood. Listening makes an effort to understand the person rather than getting them to avoid talking about it or avoiding them.
James 1:19 – “19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
Scripture promotes listening. Listening and seeing the signs of trauma is about 75 percent of the content of the videos regarding Trauma Informed Care.
3. Providing a non-threatening, non-judgmental, and safe environment. Providing a safe and non-threatening environment allows neurons to re-route and the brain to reconnect with the thinking and emotional brain. This type of environment involves handling people with gentleness, kindness, patience, compassion and care. This involves providing a helping and supportive environment without anger or trying to control them.
Galatians 6:1 – “Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted.”
Galatians 5:22-23 – “22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.”
Harsh treatment and anger has no place in scripture, and accomplishes nothing to help anyone more or less a person who has been traumatized.
James 1:20 – “for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
Matt 7:1-2 – “Judge not, that you be not judged.2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
4. Abhors isolation and promotes connection and collaboration. Connective parenting has been proven to increase IQ and enhance brain development in children. It also enhances emotional balances in children. Isolation causes harm. God knew this when He stated back in Genesis 2:18 – “18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone”.
Proverbs 29:15 – “The rod and rebuke give wisdom,
But a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.”
People who are traumatized are often alone, or feel alone. These people need to know that they are not alone. Breaking silence can let those who feel alone know that they are not. Promote speaking out. Point 5 elaborates more on this.
5. Allowing people to talk about their trauma, and avoiding hindrances to them sharing such as “It is in the past, leave it in the past!” or “Get over it!”, etc. It is necessary for traumatized people to talk about their trauma, because it helps then process what happened, and to be able to sort it out. It is a necessary and crucial step for healing. It is not about a pity party, but it is about allowing them to connect with their emotions and allowing their hurts and trauma to process.
Romans 15:1-3 – “We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, leading to edification. 3 For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.”
Galatians 6:2 – “2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”
Bearing a person’s burden is not telling them to keep it to themselves, but allowing them to unload it on you, which is listening and helping them process it and heal from it.
6. Empathy and Compassion Involves Romans 12:15 – “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” Being concerned about them, and valuing their concerns and feelings.
7. Positive encouragement – Encourages them on what God has accomplished through them, encouraging the strengths and gifts God has given them, comforting them, and building them up. It focuses on the good of a person and avoids tearing them down by focusing on the bad and negative things.
1 Thess 5:11 – “Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.”
8. Allowing people to be themselves, allowing them and encouraging them to be the unique individuals God created them to be. Not making them be who you want them to be. This involves letting them have a say, making their voice count, collaboration, and not trying to control them. Also helping them understand that they are not how they feel.
God created each person to be unique with their own unique talents and gifts. Each person serves as their own unique part of the body of Christ. The body of Christ cannot be complete if we try to make people to conform to being just one part. God has carefully and wonderfully made each person. What God created is good.
Psalm 139:14 – “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.”
Genesis 1:31 – “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.”
Genesis 1:27 – “ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
See 1 Cor 12.
This also avoids the practice of saying “What is wrong with you?”, it equates to telling God that there is something wrong with what He created. Instead we ought to focus on saying “Can you tell me what happened to you?”
9. Patience is not only a gift of the Spirit as laid out in Galatians 5:22-23, but it is necessary that we be patient with survivors as they try to heal. Time does not cure all. A lot of trauma and triggers have no timeline. Some people who have equal wounds can heal quickly, and others take more time. We must allow a person to take the time they need to heal with our continued support for them. Don’t rush them in the healing process.
10. Boundaries, structure, and respect - people who have been abused are people who were not respected, their boundaries were intentionally crossed, and many times the abuse came to the survivors unexpectedly.
Matt 22:37-40 – “Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment.39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
Love others as you love yourself means that you must love yourself and you should love others equally. This involves setting healthy boundaries for yourself with looking after yourself and looking after others equally. It is doing what is equally best for all.
The boundaries of others should also be respected and putting an equal value to their boundaries as your own. This is a part of loving others as you love yourself, also treating others as you want to be treated.
Luke 6:31 – “And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise.”
Structure is important in setting boundaries.
11. Resilience - Resilience in short is being able to thrive in a world that is not safe or has adversity. The actual definition is to be able to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Another words resilience in biblical terms is perseverance or to stand up or bear up during trials.
James 1:2-4 – “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.4 But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”
2 Tim 2:1-3 – “You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. 2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 3 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.”
See also 1 Cor 13:7 (Love bears all things and endures all things) – it takes resilience to bear and endure things.
12. Self-control - Being able to manage oneself, being able to manage or control emotions or thought. Helping others to be able to manage their thoughts and emotions by giving them a safe environment so that their brains can heal from trauma and reconnect to their emotional parts and their thinking and reasoning parts of their brain. Also helping them to build up resilience, perseverance, or forbearance under trials and being able to control their thoughts and emotions during such times. Galatians 5:22-23 mentions perseverance and self-control as fruits of the Spirit.
13. Teaching them the skills to meet their expectations (Ross Green focused a lot on this in his video), this can be translated as Proverbs 22:6 – “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he shall not depart from it.”. This involves training, teaching, and instructing a child, thus you are teaching them the skills to meet the expectations. The scripture has a lot of verses throughout the whole Bible from Exodus forward about teaching, instruction and guiding children. Setting high standards with a sense of empowerment and control. Setting standards that a person has the skills to maintain. This makes teaching and guiding them the most effective and is most effective in brain development.
Structure is important. It gives clear direction of the expectations needed to be met. It is consistent and clear, thus makes a person feel safe when following structural guidelines.
14. Focusing on relationships rather than behavior (works). Teaching, training up, and guiding (Proverbs 22:6, Eph 6:4) doesn’t just focus on treating the symptoms of the problem (behavior), but gets to the root, then teaches at the root with collaboration in order to help them to think it through and guides their thoughts in the right direction. When the roots are dealt with, the behavior will show. Behavior gets corrected when the roots of the problems and the skills are taught on dealing with the roots, not the symptoms.
Our righteousness does not depend on works or behavior, but depends on faith in Jesus and our relationship with Him. Faith produces works. Our relationship with Jesus produces works. Good relationships promote good behavior. With this being said, our works came about through the goodness God showed us, and our faith and relationship with Him. Our good works did not come from how much God punished us. The same should apply with our children and with how we treat others.
Ephesians 2:8-9 – “8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”
James 2:18 – “18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.”
See James 2:14-26. This shows that behavior is shown through faith. You cannot have good behavior without faith. A relationship with Jesus brings out that faith, parents also should model that relationship with their children. We also who help others should show ourselves to be faithful and develop relationships with those who have been traumatized, and model Jesus, then it will lead to faith in Him, and behavior will show.
15. MOST IMPORTANTLY, Unconditional love and acceptance. When we read 1 Cor. 13, it is very clear that anything done without love is meaningless. All of the above points will do absolutely nothing for a person if they are not loved. Jesus loved us and gave His only Son to die for us. He accepted us, so we should do the same for others.
Matt 22:37-40 – “37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’[d] 38 This is the first and great commandment.39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’[e] 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
John 3:16 – “16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
1 Cor. 13:4-7 – “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
Rodney Calmes
