How Can a Trauma-Informed Approach Shape Leadership and the Workplace?

When we think of trauma, most of us think of significant events. It can be an accident, a disaster, or a major social event that stays with us for years. But trauma is centered around how we feel at that specific moment. The American Psychological Association (APA,2013) defines trauma as an emotional response to a traumatizing event. SAMHSA defines trauma as a set of experiences that threaten a person’s physical or emotional integrity and affect their mental, physical, social, or even spiritual health in the long term (SAMHSA, 2014). Sometimes these experiences are in a single moment; sometimes they are a feeling of being ignored, not feeling safe, or loneliness that spans over years.

It is essential to recognize that trauma does not have to be physically visible or overtly violent. It can include many kinds, such as emotional, physical, s-xual, religious, relational, racial, workplace, identity-based, environmental, and more. Basically, by mentioning trauma, we are referring to all experiences that radically affect a person’s trust in the world, their view of themselves, or their way of relating to others. This is why trauma can remain like a shadow that challenges a person not only in the moment but even years later. Therefore, understanding trauma begins with wondering not only what happened, but what that experience has left in a person. And this is where “being trauma-informed” comes in.

Being trauma-informed means taking into account not only what the other person is going through today, but also what they may have dealt with in the past. This perspective is rooted in trying to understand someone’s behavior not only as it is today, but also in light of their unseen past. For example, sometimes someone’s reaction may seem meaningless or exaggerated. A trauma-informed approach helps us understand the reason behind this reaction and shows that something that has happened before has not been resolved. However, understanding trauma is not enough for having a trauma-informed perspective. It also includes being careful not to re-traumatize someone.

So how can we re-traumatize someone unintentionally? Sometimes a well-intentioned question can evoke a past event. Sometimes, a loud tone of voice, our body language, a look, or a controlling attitude can cause a person to re-experience a previous moment of helplessness. Van der Kolk (2014) says that the body remembers the trauma. Sometimes, even if a person knows logically that they are safe, their body may still believe a past threat lingers. This is why the language we use, the relationship we build, and the attitude we show when trying to help the person make a big difference. It truly respects each individual’s boundaries, allows them to feel comfortable setting their own pace, and views trust as something we build together rather than a requirement that must be met first. And while this kind of awareness might sound like something that belongs only in therapy rooms, it’s becoming a need in workplaces as well. In this therapy sketch, we’ll talk about how trauma shows up at work and why trauma-informed leadership is a must-have in today’s workplace.

Trauma-informed approach in the workplace

The trauma-informed approach is not new; however, it has started to find its way into many areas of our lives in recent years. Especially with the increase in the number of studies on trauma, it first started to be talked about in therapy rooms. Then this awareness gradually moved into our daily relationships, parenting, education, and social areas. And perhaps one of the areas we need the most, but talk about the least, is our working life, because workplaces are not only places where projects, goals, or meetings take place, but also places where unseen burdens, repressed emotions, and often unspoken traumas are carried. Our work and private lives are not strictly separate, like the TV series Severance. When we walk through the door of the workplace or turn on our computer to work, our past, our relationships, our fears, hopes, and traumas come with us. This is why a trauma-informed perspective is also critical in work life, because none of us comes to work leaving our experiences outside the office. And suppose the workplace is not sensitive to such experiences and not trauma-informed. In that case, it can become a place where new traumas are experienced or re-traumatization occurs, just as much as new successes are achieved.

What is Workplace Trauma?

Workplace trauma, or work-related traumatic experiences, can arise not only from the job description of the individual but also from the relationships, dynamics, and atmosphere of the environment. Some professions inherently increase the risk of exposure to traumatic events. For example, health professionals, therapists, social workers, security forces, or firefighters may be directly or indirectly exposed to trauma as a result of their work. However, although some professions are inherently exposed to trauma, no profession is completely immune to this risk. Because, as we mentioned at the beginning, trauma is not only about what is experienced, but also about how that experience affects the person (Morganstein JC et al., 2017).

Situations that can cause trauma at work are sometimes obvious and sometimes invisible. Emotional, physical, financial, or s*xual abuse, mobbing, microaggressions, power imbalances, or “harsh” organizational cultures with constant competition are experiences that can cause trauma in employees and can be clearly visible. However, it is possible to encounter many experiences that can traumatize but go unnoticed. Constant vigilance, not being seen, having one’s boundaries ignored, and feeling worthless are some of these invisible experiences. Such experiences can reflect as chronic stress for one’s nervous system. Over time, the person becomes stuck in a “fight or flight” response. This can manifest itself in symptoms such as distraction, forgetfulness, insomnia, physical pain, and even emotional numbness (Van der Kolk, 2014).

Workplace trauma is often referred to simply as “stress”. Even though these two concepts are alike, they are not identical. Stress is a temporary reaction to a challenging situation. Once the threat is removed, the system returns to equilibrium. Trauma is the point at which this balance is permanently disrupted. Prolonged exposure to high levels of stress puts the nervous system on high alert, the body forgets to relax, and the mind loses its sense of security (Morganstein JC et al., 2017).

Trauma at work has such a profound impact because work is not just a source of income. It is often the place that is part of our identity, where we feel valued, successful, build work relationships, and spend most of the day. Experiencing constant task accumulation, feeling unseen, power imbalances, and emotional burdens can cause trauma at work. It affects not only professional life, but also our sense of self, our relationships, and our trust in the world. That is why creating trauma-informed workplaces is essential. Creating a trauma-informed environment in the workplace is possible not only through individual awareness but also through work environments where safe relationships can be established that will not traumatize or retraumatize. The foundation for achieving this lies in a trauma-informed leadership.

What is Trauma-Informed Leadership?

Trauma-informed leadership puts people at the center of leadership. This approach recognizes that leadership is not only about goals or efficiency, but also about people’s emotional worlds, their histories, and their sense of trust. A trauma-informed leader recognizes that not every employee comes from the same set of circumstances and each may have different kinds of challenging experiences in their past. This awareness can affect an employee’s learning process, the way they cope with stress, or their communication style. Trauma-informed leadership, therefore, approaches people not just as employees but as whole individuals with their histories, identities, and emotional responses (Lloyd, 2024). This approach is grounded in the principles of trauma-informed care set out by SAMHSA (2014), which lay the foundation for building a culture of trust and collaboration not only in therapy rooms but also in organizations. These principles are:

Safety
Trustworthiness and Transparency
Peer Support
Collaboration and Mutuality
Empowerment, voice, and choice
Cultural, historical, and gender issues

What are the attributes of Trauma-Informed Leadership?

Trauma-informed leadership is not just about policies or strategies; it is about who a leader is, how they relate, and how they act in times of crisis. There are four key traits that define this approach: authenticity, emotional intelligence, relational capacity, and resilience. These four traits ensure that a leader is not just someone who leads, but also someone who hears, understands, and builds trust (Lloyd, 2024).

Authenticity: Trauma-informed leaderships embrace authenticity. These leaders openly share their feelings and thoughts, creating an honest and trusting environment. When a leader admits, “I made a mistake, but together we can figure out how to fix it,” it helps the team feel more at ease and trusting. For someone who has experienced trauma, this kind of openness can be a different experience from the distrustful relationships of the past.
Emotional intelligence (EQ): A trauma-informed approach includes elements of emotional intelligence, such as empathy, awareness, and self-regulation. For example, when a trauma-informed leader notices someone going silent in a team meeting, they tend to investigate rather than immediately focusing on performance. Checking in like“I’ve noticed you’ve been a bit tired lately, is everything okay?” may seem like a simple sentence, but it can actually be a way of seeing the team member.
Relational Capacity: The trauma-informed leader sees relational capacity as an organizational necessity because they are aware that trauma usually occurs in relationships, but it also heals within relationships. For example, disagreements are quite common in the workplace. People may argue, but following the argument, steps are taken to resolve the issue, or saying something like, “I felt like you were tense during that conversation, we can talk about it if you want,” can prevent these disagreements from escalating and turning into a traumatic experience.
Resilience: Being a trauma-informed leader also includes resilience, especially in times of crisis. For example, when a project changes at the last minute or plans are disrupted, a trauma-informed leader might lead the team by saying, “This change is not easy, but together we can adapt.” For a trauma-informed leader, resilience isn’t about pushing the team through the storm; it’s about making sure that everyone feels safe as we move through it. In trauma-informed leadership, resilience isn’t about becoming tough, but about being flexibletime to time, even when things are changing around us.

These four characteristics shape the core aspect of a trauma-informed leader. But this core characteristic is incomplete when it does not reflect in behavior. What truly distinguishes trauma-informed leadership is how these traits are reflected in everyday attitudes, communication, and decisions (Lloyd, 2024).

What behaviors distinguish trauma-informed leaders from others?

Trauma-informed leadership is not only about who the leader is, but how they behave. So trauma-informed leadership requires reflecting values into behavior. Trust, transparency, and sensitivity all become visible in the leader’s daily attitudes. There are four core behaviors that are defined in the literature for trauma-informed leadership: understanding trauma, regulating distress, empowering others, and making space for emotional healing (Lloyd, 2024).

Understanding trauma: Understanding trauma completely changes the way a leader views human behavior. For someone who has experienced trauma, a minor tension can trigger an echo of a significant threat from the past. An employee may suddenly freeze, lose focus, or react unexpectedly violently. This does not always mean unwillingness or a lack of discipline; it might be that their brain is trying to figure out whether the environment they are in is still safe.
Regulating distress: In relation to the “understanding trauma” part above, the mind and nervous system are more easily triggered after trauma. Even the tone of an email, a look, a change can be perceived as a threat. Therefore, for a trauma-informed leader, safety is not only a physical need but also a psychological, social, cultural, and moral one. In cases of safety threats, trauma-informed leaders not only regulate their own nervous systems through resilience attributes but also show their team that regulation is possible. Within that trusting environment, people don’t just work, they truly breathe and flourish.
Empowering others: Eventhough trauma-informed leaders offer guidelines most of the time, they also remind and empower their teammates to have the courage to forge their own path because they believe in each person’s right to growth, autonomy, and self-determination. For example, deciding presentation contents seems like a small detail, but sometimes these small decisions can help someone find their voice again.
Making space for emotional healing: Trauma-informed leaders create a space for healing rather than offering superficial solutions or immediate crisis relief. The environment they produce can be recognized as safe, and also as a place where emotions are expressed and not suppressed, where employees seek to understand each other, and where they can engage in the healing process. In line with trauma-informed leadership attributes, leaders listen with empathy rather than just hear, make room for emotions rather than suppress them, and involve employees in the well-being process (Lloyd, 2024).

To sum up, Trauma-informed leadership involves reminding people that working is not just about completing assigned tasks; it also has an interpersonal aspect. Every email, every meeting, every decision can leave a mark. So leadership is not only the art of accomplishing goals, but also the practice of making people feel safe, seen, and valued.

Takeaways:

Trauma is not only about what is experienced, but also about how that experience affects the person
Workplace trauma, or work-related traumatic experiences, can arise not only from the job description of the individual but also from the relationships, dynamics, and atmosphere of the environment.
Trauma at work has such a profound impact because work is not just a source of income. It is often the place that is part of our identity, where we feel valued, successful, build work relationships, and spend most of the day.
It affects not only professional life, but also our sense of self, our relationships, and our trust in the world. That is why creating trauma-informed workplaces is essential. The foundation for achieving this lies in trauma-informed leadership.
Trauma-informed leadership recognizes that leadership is not only about goals or efficiency, but also about people’s emotional worlds, their histories, and their sense of trust.

References:

APA. https://www.apa.org/topics/trauma
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (July, 2014). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884. https://library.samhsa.gov/sites/default/files/sma14-4884.pdf
Morganstein JC, West JC, Ursano RJ. Work-Associated Trauma. Physician Mental Health and Well-Being. 2017 Feb 27:33–60. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-55583-6_2. PMCID: PMC7123879.
van der Kolk, B. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.
Lloyd, R. C. (2024). Trauma-informed leadership: Integrating research-based leadership theories and SAMHSA principles for building resilient teams. In Regent Research Roundtables 2024 Proceedings (pp. 288–303). Regent University School of Business & Leadership. ISSN 2993-589X.
Lloyd, R. C. (2024). The missing key: Trauma-informed leadership. Lloyd Consulting Firm.
Kessler, R. C. (2018). Trauma and physical health: Insights from the World Mental Health Surveys. Psychosomatic Medicine, 80(1), 120–129.

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