‘It's Knowing the Right Things to Say and Do’: Challenges and Opportunities for Trauma‐informed Practice in the Prison Context
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/hojo.12344 |
| Author | NINA VASWANI,SALLY PAUL |
| Date | 01 December 2019 |
| Published date | 01 December 2019 |
The Howard Journal Vol58 No 4. December 2019 DOI: 10.1111/hojo.12344
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 513–534
‘It’s Knowing the Right Things to Say
and Do’: Challenges and
Opportunities for Trauma-informed
Practice in the Prison Context
NINA VASWANI and SALLY PAUL
Nina Vaswani is Research Fellow, Centre for Youth & Criminal Justice,
University of Strathclyde; Sally Paul is Lecturer, Social Work & Social Policy,
University of Strathclyde
Abstract: The relevance of trauma-informed practice (TIP) across the workforce, es-
pecially in a trauma-laden environment such as prison, has gained credence. Little is
documented, however, on the practicalities of responding to trauma within custodial insti-
tutions where the potential for retraumatisation and the tension between care and control
are complicating factors. This article explores the views of over 200 prison staff on the
adoption of a trauma-informed approach for young people in custody. It identifies a gap
between vision and practice and, while acknowledging that prisons can become more
‘trauma-aware’, disputes the notion that true TIP is possible within current custodial
contexts.
Keywords: prison; prison officers; trauma-informed practice (TIP); young
offenders
Introduction
It is well known that the experience of trauma can have lasting impli-
cations on a person’s social, physical and emotional well-being (Breslau
2012; Felitti et al. 1998; Perry et al. 1995). Moreover, working with peo-
ple who have experienced trauma is recognised as emotionally demand-
ing and with potentially lifelong implications (Baird and Kracen 2006;
Cohen and Collens 2013; McCann and Pearlman 1990). As a result there
is an established and international evidence base that focuses on the im-
mediate and long-term effect of trauma on individuals (Van der Kolk,
McFarlane and Weisaeth1996), the impact on practitioners of working with
people who have experienced trauma (Pearlman and Mac Ian 1995), and
the role of practitioners, services, and institutions, in both mitigating and
exacerbating trauma-related experiences (Bloom and Farragher 2010;
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2019 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK
The Howard Journal Vol58 No 4. December 2019
ISSN 2059-1098, pp. 513–534
Sweeney et al. 2016). The impact of practitioners, and the system more
broadly, on people who have experienced trauma signifies the importance
of trauma-informed practice (TIP). TIP, at the most basic level, involves
ensuring that practice is sensitive to trauma and adopts, as a minimum
standard, what Miller and Najavits (2012) describe as a ‘do no harm’ ap-
proach. In Scotland, this approach is recognised in the recently published
Transforming Psychological Trauma: A Knowledge and Skills Framework for the
Scottish Workforce(NHS Education for Scotland 2017) which argues that ‘re-
sponding to trauma is everybody’s business’ (Watt, in NHS Education for
Scotland 2017, p.4). This framework acknowledges that the experience of
traumatic events is not uncommon and that trauma can affect how people
interact, engage, and experience services. While emanating from a health
model, the framework is intended to be interdisciplinary in its reach. As
such, it is designed to support and develop trauma-related knowledge and
skills across the entire Scottish workforce, not just among those profession-
als with a direct remit to work with trauma. The ambition is of a workforce
that can identify the impact of trauma and adapt practice to minimise
distress, maximise trust, and promote engagement and recovery.
If trauma is everybody’s business, then no more so than for the prison
workforce. The elevated levels of loss, trauma, victimisation, abuse, and
mental health issues among people who are detained in custody are well
documented (Bowler, Phillips and Rees 2018; Nolan, Dyer and Vaswani
2017; Vaswani 2014; Williams et al. 2010). This means that encounters
with distressed, complex, vulnerable, and often traumatised people are
simply part and parcel of the day job for prison staff. The aspirations of
Transforming Psychological Trauma clearly extend to the realisation of TIP
within the prison setting. Yet there is currently no research that specifi-
cally explores the role, implementation, and impact of such practice within
the prison context. This is significant, given that prisons are identified as
a challenging setting for trauma-informed care, not least due to the puni-
tive purpose of the institution itself (Miller and Najavits 2012). Moreover,
little is known about the impact of delivering TIP from the perspective
of uniformed prison staff and this presents a significant barrier in both
understanding and applying TIP in the prison context. This article aims
to address this gap in knowledge by drawing on the experiences of staff
in a young offender institution (YOI) involved in an organisational shift
to a more trauma-informed establishment. In doing so, the article devel-
ops a more nuanced understanding of the role and purpose of prison in
trauma recovery, whereby opportunities for endorsing and supporting a
trauma-informed approach to practice are identified alongside the barri-
ers that impede such an approach. With reference to the key competencies
set out in Transforming Psychological Trauma the article considers the vision
for TIP together with the realities of custom and practice to critique the
applicability of TIP within prison settings. It argues that it is not possi-
ble for a custodial establishment to become truly trauma-informed while
punishment remains a fundamental element of the prison system.
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2019 The Howard League and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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