Trauma-informed care aims to reduce re-traumatization by recognizing trauma, maintaining safety, and prioritizing which aspects?

• A. Recognizing trauma, maintaining safety, and prioritizing choice, collaboration, and empowerment.
• B. Avoiding discussing trauma altogether.
• C. Focusing exclusively on abstinence without regard to trauma.
• D. Increasing clinician control over treatment decisions.

Answer: (A)

Trauma-informed care, after recognizing trauma and ensuring safety, centers on giving people real agency in their treatment. Prioritizing choice, collaboration, and empowerment means offering options, inviting clients to participate in decisions about their care, and supporting their sense of control and capabilities. This approach helps rebuild trust and reduces the risk that treatment becomes another source of harm, since decisions aren’t imposed but shared, and the person feels respected and valued. By contrast, methods that avoid discussing trauma, focus only on abstinence without considering trauma’s impact, or push more control onto clinicians undermine safety and autonomy, which can perpetuate retraumatization. Emphasizing choice, collaboration, and empowerment aligns with the goal of treating individuals with dignity and enabling genuine, sustained recovery.