Trauma is a common experience in our community, and children and young people are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of trauma and adversity. Supporting children and their families requires a system-wide, consistent understanding of, and response to trauma experience.
The Framework for trauma-informed practice (the Framework) promotes and supports a shared understanding of what trauma-informed means to children, individuals and families, professionals and volunteers.
The Framework explains trauma, trauma-informed practice, and other terms that are used when working with people who have had negative life experiences that have impacted on their health and wellbeing. Learning about trauma gives us a way to understand behaviours, responses, attitudes, and emotions as a collection of survival skills developed in response to life experiences.
The Framework can also be used in supervision and professional development activities, reflecting and improving on how we interact and work with children and their families.
The Framework is located on the department’s internet site at www.dffh.vic.gov.au/framework-trauma-informed-practice, which also includes an explainer video.