Trauma-informed Care: A Catalyst for Strong Therapeutic Alliances

Abstract

Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a framework designed to support trauma survivors and is centered around 4 R’s: realizing the holistic impact of trauma, recognizing symptoms of dysregulation, responding to needs appropriately, and resisting retraumatization (SAMHSA, 2014). The present study explored how receiving TIC impacted a client’s perception of the therapeutic alliance. Participants consisted of 118 adults who have attended individual outpatient psychotherapy. More than half of participants worked with a master’s level psychotherapist (e.g Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed Clinical Social Worker), followed by a third working with a psychologist. The remaining participants worked with a psychiatrist or pre-licensed professional. The measures used in the present study were the Patient Trauma-Informed Care Survey (Kokokyi et al., 2021), Brief-Revised Working Alliance Inventory (BR-WAI; Horvath & Greenberg, 1989; Mallinckrodt & Tekie, 2015), and Client Assessment of Multicultural Competent Behavior scale (CAMBC; Oh & Shillingford-Butler, 2021). A series of Pearson R correlations found a significant positive relationship between receiving TIC and experiencing safety, alongside collaborating with a mental health provider, while a significant moderate relationship between receiving TIC and experiencing multiculturally competent counseling was found. Additionally, participants who discussed TIC with their providers reported higher levels of TIC. The findings of this study will begin to bridge the literature gap regarding patient outcomes of TIC