Trauma Informed Care

Trauma of all sorts – physical, emotional or sexual – is known to be both a cause and a result of homelessness. A variety of studies have shown that domestic violence can lead to homelessness for women and their children, that childhood abuse is a potential risk factor for later homelessness, that LGBTQ2 youth often leave home because of negative and sometime violent reactions to their coming out process. There is also a correlation between people experiencing homelessness and addictions and/or mental health. People experiencing homelessness often suffer from depression and/or post traumatic stress disorder. These may be the cause or result of homelessness. All of this means that staff and volunteers working with people experiencing homelessness need to create and implement trauma-informed services in order to provide the best possible care.