New micro-credential helps professionals apply trauma-informed principles at work

By Matthew Biddle

Individuals can learn how to apply trauma-informed principles to benefit employees across their organization, thanks to a new micro-credential program from the University at Buffalo School of Social Work’s Institute on Trauma and Trauma-Informed Care (ITTIC).

Trauma-informed care is an approach that assumes that people are more likely than not to have experienced trauma in their lives. Through the Foundations of Trauma-Informed Care micro-credential, participants will understand how trauma can affect people and learn how they can be sensitive to potential trauma in their role and within their team or agency.

“The high prevalence of stress, adversity and trauma in our society makes it imperative for people and organizations to understand and actively implement trauma-informed approaches,” says Samantha Koury, EdD, co-director of ITTIC. “Trauma-informed approaches — particularly when applied across an organization — allow any organization to use neuroscience to support environments and interactions that best position individuals to be healthy and productive in their roles.”

Participants can earn the micro-credential by completing ITTIC’s Basics for All Staff: Online Trauma-Informed Course, a self-paced, virtual program with three required foundation modules and a slew of electives on specific populations or industries. Alternatively, organizations can contract with ITTIC for 12-15 hours of customized training, in person or virtually.

In both cases, the training includes “Trauma 101,” which teaches participants how trauma affects a person’s brain and nervous system and covers such topics as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and historical, racial and systemic trauma. From there, participants learn how to promote resilience and establish “universal precautions” to reduce the likelihood of further harm. Finally, to complete the program, participants must respond to a case scenario to demonstrate the skills they’ve acquired.

Participants say the program is beneficial for their own personal and professional development, as well as for their organizations more broadly.

“By obtaining the micro-credential, we gained skills that have allowed our agency to initiate policy review, re-establish onboarding and training expectations, determine the best ways to communicate with employees, and work through our hiring process to ensure we approach these items from a trauma-informed lens,” says Melody Knittle, corporate child safeguarding specialist at Telamon | TRC, a North Carolina-based nonprofit. “Through this, we have been able to work collaboratively across different focus areas and business lines to engage one another with empathy, respect and support.”

Knittle’s colleague, Ericka White, benefits and wellness lead at Telamon, agrees: “During our trauma-informed care training, we had conversations about difficult topics, realized new things about ourselves, gained insight on how to manage others without doing additional harm and received tools to meet others where they are in a compassionate manner.”

Micro-credentials equip learners with a digital badge that allows them to showcase competencies on their social media profiles, digital résumé and more. According to Koury, while individuals can be certified in many trauma-related treatments, the field of trauma-informed care offers no such certification.

“Micro-credentialing offers something tangible so people can demonstrate their commitment to trauma-informed approaches in their role,” Koury says. “Individuals who complete the micro-credential will both increase their awareness of trauma and receive guidance and strategies so they can actually apply trauma-sensitive practices at an individual and agency level.”

For more information about the program, visit ITTIC’s website or contact Amy Wlosinski, project manager and trainer, at ald5@buffalo.edu.

Matthew Biddle
Director of Communications and Marketing
School of Social Work
Tel: 716-645-1226
mrbiddle@buffalo.edu