Written by: Dr. Helen Ofosu, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
What is "Trauma-Informed," and Why Should it Matter to Me as a Working Professional? Thankfully, among mental health professionals, the concept of being trauma-informed is gaining traction.
Finally, there's a better appreciation that someone who is excluded, undermined, mistreated or dehumanized because of their sexual orientation, skin colour, Indigeneity, religion or other factors is experiencing repeated and ongoing trauma.
Being trauma-informed means understanding, anticipating, and responding to the issues, expectations, and special needs of a person who has been victimized. At a minimum, a trauma-informed approach is intentional about doing no further harm. This means not blaming individuals for trying to manage traumatic reactions.
I don't suggest lowering expectations or standards at work, but it does mean remaining mindful of certain people's often unacknowledged challenges.
These experiences are sometimes referred to as "small t traumas." But, when you chain enough minor traumas together, their impact can be the same as "big T traumas" associated with a catastrophic physical accident, life-threatening illness, assault or natural disaster.
For a deeper discussion on trauma, read What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing, or listen to this podcast episode with Brene Brown that captures the basics.
For a while, there has also been better awareness that working in an organization where one is subjected to harassment or bullying is also traumatic. When combined with exclusion based on a person's membership in an underrepresented group, the cumulative impact is often quite significant.
Since access to these trauma-informed and inclusive professionals is so limited, I'm doing what I can to spread this information to people who feel the impact of these problematic work-related situations yet are not connected to a therapist, counsellor, or psychologist.
Ideas to Help You Reclaim Psychological Safety
Understanding, Setting and Enforcing Boundaries
Interpersonal interactions that leave us feeling inadequate or ruminating and rethinking negatively about the exchange signify that someone has violated our boundaries.
Setting boundaries is a skill that can be learned at any age or stage of life. Teachers, healthcare professionals, lawyers, religious leaders and therapists are taught about boundaries during their training. Their work is governed by specific rules and codes of conduct that have boundaries built right in. Other professionals may not learn about boundaries explicitly – but they are still relevant since boundary violations hurt our psychological safety.
My intention is not to blame victims of boundary violations but rather to remind readers that maintaining healthy boundaries is crucial for maintaining psychological safety. For further reading on boundaries, I encourage you to browse my blog and read other articles discussing workplace boundaries.
Remote/Hybrid Work
I acknowledge that many jobs can only be done in person. For anyone who had agonizingly long commutes, remote and hybrid work has been a significant silver lining of the pandemic. A surprisingly high number of people discovered that working remotely improved their psychological safety. Many of those people are making the best of remote or hybrid work environments or adjusting to hybrid or full-time in-person work.
Although for some people, a return to the physical office has been a welcome relief, whether you live in a smaller home to be closer to work or you're just tired of "walking to work" in your pyjamas. If you've been supporting young children, you're probably relieved that full-time, in-person school is back on track. For many of us, the pandemic has required that we perform an incredible new balancing act and working from home got old very quickly.
While all of this is true, it is also true that many people have been quietly dreading a return to the physical workplace. The racial or similar forms of dread are often linked to inadequate inclusion and a lack of belonging at work.
I have spoken to Black, Muslim, and other racialized people and differently-abled people who have acknowledged that they have been much more productive and happier while working from home over the past months/years. They prefer working from home because they no longer deal with modern racism, such as microaggressions and inadequate inclusion.
It's only by being away from the workplace that they've experienced, in a visceral way, how different it feels to get away from low-key exclusion, microaggressions, and a general feeling of not being fully welcomed or valued. In the pre-pandemic past, most racialized and other underrepresented people simply did their work as well as they possibly could. Often, they would also consciously or unconsciously do things that allowed them to get along with others within the workplace by covering up aspects of themselves that they knew were not welcome.
Months of freedom from that hidden labor has been a wonderful relief; now, as the return to in-person work unfolds, they're understandably feeling uncomfortable at the prospect of dealing with it all again.
Are you racialized, LGBTQ2S+, Indigenous, or a differently-abled person dealing with problems at work?
Whether you're a mental health professional or a layperson, understanding the basics of trauma and the concept of a trauma-informed approach can help you connect the dots. Knowledge is power, and even the smallest sense of power can increase your resilience.
Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and visit my website to find more ways to become more resilient in your career.
Dr. Helen Ofosu, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dr. Helen Ofosu has been practising Industrial / Organizational Psychology (also known as Work or Business Psychology) in the public and private sectors for almost 20 years. In addition to Career and Executive Coaching, her specialties include the assessment and development of leadership skills, and navigating the complex issues of workplace bullying, harassment, diversity and inclusion. Dr. Ofosu is one of the founding officers of the Section on Black Psychology, Canadian Psychological Association and she’s thrilled to have written a new book “How to be Resilient in Your Career: Facing Up to Barriers at Work” that will be published by Routledge in February 2023.
