We endeavour to support people in a trauma-informed manner, recognising the severe detrimental impact of past and ongoing trauma on people’s lives, capacity to interact healthily with others, and ability to make well-thought-through decisions. Some may find day-to-day tasks much more challenging than we might expect or assume. Some might come across as omnicompetent and strong when internally they may feel like they’re falling apart. Some may present as overly desperate, about seemingly insignificant things. The impact of trauma can take many different forms.
We engage with gentleness, curiosity and love. We look to identify the practical and emotional needs of each person, and use a flexible approach to co-create tailored support in recognition of their individuality and the unique makeup of their situations. We look to discover ‘what’s strong, not what’s wrong’ (Cormac Russell), to explore what’s right with someone’s life, not just what’s broken (Nicola Lester). These six principles inform our work:
- Safety. We work to support people to feel safe in themselves and safe with others, building a sense of comfort and ability to relax, both alone and around other people. When people feel seen, valued, cared for and supported, it can help foster a sense of emotional safety – a healing process.
- Choices. We long for people to grow and develop their sense of autonomy and control in their lives, not powerlessness. A sense of powerlessness and being ‘stuck’ can be one of the primary factors contributing to trauma in people’s lives – if we can support people to make the choices that are within their control, and build up their sense of agency in many small ways, this can go a long way to helping people heal. We do not make decisions for people or do things to people, but look to work together with them and help them make good choices for themselves.
- Coping. Sometimes when people are frantic / dysregulated / seem to be overly ‘needy’ / unable to deal with simple tasks – it’s simply because they are not coping. We look together at what kinds of things might help them to regain a sense of stability and a feeling of coping with life, one step at a time. They may have unhealthy coping strategies – we do not berate or shame people for these, but see them as wise adaptations in a context of trauma and survival. We look to people’s strengths, to help them find new ways to cope.
- Connection. People cannot heal from trauma in total isolation – we all need connection with others in order to survive. Our brains are hard-wired for connection; without it we flounder! We aim to create spaces where people can build friendships and meaningful connection with others, mutually support each other in small ways and show empathy to one another. We also endeavour to support people to find other ways outside of our groups, to build connections and healthy relationships with other people. We support them to invest in their existing relationships, recognising who is already in their lives, and to build new friendships too.
- Identity. We consider people’s context – their age, gender, culture, race, social circumstances, faith, family background, societal expectations, self-imposed rules – all sorts of things make up our identities. We aim to maintain a posture of curiosity, not judgment; not making assumptions about people but asking open questions about how things shape their lives. We keep in mind power dynamics, vulnerabilities, experiences of suffering, worldviews, and unspoken expectations. We engage with love.
- Strengths. We work to identify together what’s right in people’s lives, and celebrate those things! We look to build on their strengths and the possibilities and opportunities open to them. We affirm their gifts and talents, and reframe narratives of struggle as stories of profound growth. We don’t minimise people’s suffering with glib cliches, but look to learn from the wisdom they have developed through life’s profound challenges.
Resilience is a bit of a buzzword these days. We believe everyone has internal resilience, and the principles above can act as keys to help people discover and develop their resilience. This process requires self-awareness, self-care, and a sense of hope and purpose – both for us as Thrive representatives and for the asylum-seekers and refugees we journey alongside. We look to grow in these things together and learn from one another along the way! This is not a comfortable process, but we pay attention to how the struggle feels, giving ourselves and one another permission to be gentle, to take things slowly, to accept support. Wisdom is cultivated through making space to learn and grow in these areas, and we believe this is part of our core purpose.
We all know that trauma can be an immense hindrance to life and flourishing. But in our trauma-informed approach we also want to recognise the potential for post-traumatic growth – the capacity to increasingly thrive and flourish in life because of adversity. The struggles we have experienced can shape the direction of our lives, giving us fresh purpose, new interests, and even a desire to help others around us overcome darkness too. Trauma, as we heal from it, can give us a unique appreciation of life. We can develop deeper and stronger relationships, profound self-awareness, increased compassion, and strong motivation to be part of creating something good in the world. What doesn’t kill you doesn’t always make you stronger – but as we support people to heal from trauma we may notice unexpected gifts that come out of it – and we delight in those!
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