Trauma Informed Care Pillar II: Trustworthiness and Transparency

Trauma Informed Care Pillar II: Trustworthiness and Transparency

Trust.  It is one of the most common struggles I have heard clients articulate in my work with them.  And, to be honest, fair, and normalizing about it – it is a very human thing to struggle with.  What other narrative did we have but to say 'I cant trust’ when our experience of showing up authentically wasn’t received or held in safety.  And yet, on some level, we do trust or else we wouldn’t drive, take public transportation, show up in a therapist office, engage in relationships, or several of the other activities we engage with on a day to day basis that requires us to not know all there is to know.  As my background is in substance use disorder and recovery, I would often challenge back the ‘I cant trust’ with ‘then what did you do with your dealer’?

In the context of trauma informed care, the behavior makes sense.  It points to an area where one was wounded around trust.  Possibly by a caregiver of some sort or a significant person in the life of the individual.  And, who has not experienced woundedness in these relationships?   Perhaps yielding to the articulation of the struggle from the individual can be framed as an act of bravery and acknowledgement and challangs others to look at their own shadow and woundedness.  Perhaps we are all the same, its that some are braver to put into words.

Transparency is a very near sibling of trust.  Transparency, the ability to see through, helps pave the way for trust.  Of course, there are times where transparency should be utilized with discernment and careful consideration.  However, take for example a medical situation where a medical professional is not transparent about assessment, diagnosis, or treatment.  What does that do to the level of trust and the ongoing impact of trust in the profession?

Thinking about mental health and the care for others, recognizing that trust is build over time and is a combination of reliability, commitment holding, and maintaining boundaries is key.  As a provider or mental health, it could also be suggested to look at ones own relationship with trust and how that is being mirrored in a skillful or unskillful way.  Trust is not just a concept, it’s a series of actions over time that builds relationships.  When working with the wounds of the other, trust is not something that can be demanded or even formulated.  It’s a gift, freely given and up to the other to receive. 

Transparency is essential in this process.  Being able to say ones own skillset and level of training is an act of transparency.  Being clear about what boundaries are to be enforced shows adherence to transparency.  Even being in the moment and acknowledging ‘I don’t have the words right now, I am just going to sit with you’ can be transformative through transparency.  Trauma thrives in the unpredictability and lack of clear expectations.  The therapeutic relationship is a great growth ground to learn how to build predictability and expectations.