- Date: November 6-7, 2023
- Location: Bonnington Hotel, Dublin, Ireland
Professionals and carers have long understood that a particularly difficult experience or cumulative disadvantage in a child’s life can leave a legacy that impacts their present-day functioning. It is also true that not all children who have experienced adversity seem to be overly affected by it. So, we should not necessarily assume a debilitating reaction to past experience. In the space of little more than a decade, this connection between past and present has come to be understood through a lens of trauma, yet the question of just what trauma is remains largely unexamined.
The adoption of a trauma lens requires further examination, particularly asking what might differentiate “trauma informed care” from any other form of care, when the principles of TIC are essentially principles of good care that are not specific to trauma.
Reframing the Trauma Lens will be a forum for conversation and discussion on the topic of Trauma Informed Care where we will deliberate on the various perspectives associated with this concept. We will seek to broaden the frame through which we understand trauma, and ‘being trauma informed’ while attempting to answer questions such as:
- What is trauma … really?
- Is this the only or most helpful way of understanding the past?
- What does the evidence tell us on trauma and trauma informed care?
- What are the politics of trauma?
- What are the implications of trauma approaches for professionals and carers?
