Introduction
Violence against a person because of their gender is called gender-based violence. Domestic violence against women, men, or children in the same domestic unit is included. It mainly affects women and girls but also seriously harms families and communities. Victims regularly suffer from mental health issues due to their trauma. Hence, they resort to psychotherapy that can heal their wounds and help them restore them. Safety, trust, and finding strengths are the most important cores for trauma recovery.
Application of the Trauma Informed Practice Principles
Safety
Typically, victims live in an ever-growing sense of fear, constantly waiting for a threat to arise. These people do not feel safe, making it difficult to relax. Generally speaking, safety is regarded as a crucial component of the psychotherapy experience. The necessity of the client feeling safe for successful therapeutic outcomes is acknowledged by theorists and clinicians of a number of psychotherapy techniques and forms (Podolan, 2022).
This principle is key to the restorative process for victims of gender-based violence, as it enables them to feel secure. In the process of opening up to a therapist, they may feel ready to experience certain feelings related to the accident (Podolan, 2022). It is a sign that safety is established and behavioral changes can be introduced. Therefore, safety is a critical principle when working with clients exposed to gender-based abuse.
Trustworthiness
The other essential pillar is trust, as it allows for better contact between a client and therapist. As a rule, victims tend to conceal their emotions, motives, and other important details of an accident. Trauma is rooted deep in their unconsciousness, which makes it difficult to retrieve key facts while healing it (Crits-Christoph et al., 2019). Therefore, it is indispensable to build trusting connections before starting the recovery process.
Trust is the most crucial component in creating and maintaining productive partnerships. The initial sessions establish a good rapport between the client and a professional and allow both parties to discover how to support the self-discovery journey (Crits-Christoph et al., 2019).
The experience of working with a therapist who can empathically relate to the suffering and injustice a client has experienced in infancy has powerful healing effects on its own. It is more crucial for a client’s relationship with their therapist than the type of psychological school the therapist adheres to for them to see improvements in their lives.
Empowerment
The strength-based principle also remains among the key components of a successful recovery process for people suffering from gender-based violence. The strength-based approach helps people perceive their best selves, enabling them to recognize their own worth. Rather than concentrating on their flaws, they may advance that value and make the most of their strengths. It also enables people to adapt more quickly to new circumstances in life while paying attention to positive anchors.
Conclusion
In conclusion, victims of gender-based violence face a long process of recovery from the trauma that is deeply rooted in their unconscious. Therefore, a therapist’s primary responsibility is to ensure safety and ensure a client feels secure enough to share their experience. In addition, trust is required to facilitate memory retrieval and help move forward toward building new behavioral patterns. Ultimately, assisting a client in finding strengths is the principle that allows them to focus on new things in the post-recovery period.
References
Crits-Christoph, P., Rieger, A., Gaines, A., & Gibbons, M. B. C. (2019). Trust and respect in the patient-clinician relationship: Preliminary development of a new scale. BMC Psychology, 7(1), 91. Web.
Podolan, M. (2022). The functions of safety in psychotherapy: A comparative analysis across therapeutic schools. Research Square, 1-21. Web.