Trauma-Informed Care as Part of a Gender-Responsive Approach in Criminal Justice
The role of trauma and the way in which it is experienced within the criminal justice system is something we have explored throughout our course. I have found that you cannot talk about progressive changes and addressing needs in the criminal justice system without talking about trauma. This is especially true when thinking about the experiences of incarcerated women before, during, and after their involvement in the system. While trauma and mental health issues are pertinent to all incarcerated individuals, the unique experiences of women can go overlooked and current approaches for assessing risk and needs are informed by male normative standards (Hannah-Motaff, 2006). This means current approaches might fail to address the unique experiences and needs of women offenders which often involve trauma.
In my exploration of the benefits of trauma-informed and gender-responsive approaches for women, I found Bloom and Covington’s Addressing the Mental Health Needs of Women Offenders (2008) to be incredibly informative and a clear call to action for incorporating trauma-informed care in the treatment of incarcerated women. As Bloom and Covington point out, female prisoners and jail inmates often have more mental health problems than male prisoners, with especially high levels of interpersonal trauma and experience with domestic violence. This is significant when we consider that incarcerated women might not be given resources and interventions that are designed to help them process and heal from trauma during their involvement in the criminal justice system (and after it). That being said, we can think of the gender-responsive approach as one that highlights the need for trauma-informed care and empowerment for incarcerated women.
I think when discussing trauma-informed care and gender-responsive approach, we should avoid presenting these as abstract concepts and instead be clear about how to practically apply these in the criminal justice system. I personally find Bloom and Covington’s suggestions to be reasonable and helpful. They outline what a trauma-informed approach can look like: acknowledging women’s unique trauma histories, creating a safe, supportive environment that promotes healing, providing psychoeducation about trauma and abuse, teaching coping skills, and validating women’s reactions. I would add that fostering a culture of understanding and safety is crucial along with giving women autonomy in their treatment planning/goals, encouraging empowerment.
Trauma-informed and gender-responsive care requires comprehensive training of staff and the resources to hire quality mental health professionals. While this may require more funding, the potential positive outcomes from this approach are significant and justify the investment. Trauma-informed care is crucial for incarcerated women to meet the goal of reduced involvement with criminal activities (Bloom & Covington, 2008). Directly addressing traumatic victimization experiences, functional difficulties, and other mental health needs is a step toward rehabilitation and positive outcomes for incarcerated women. My takeaway here is that gender-responsive care for incarcerated women must be trauma-informed. This is done by creating a safe, supportive therapeutic environment that empowers women and promotes healing.
References:
Bloom, B. E., & Covington, S. S. (2008). Addressing the mental health needs of women offenders. In Women’s mental health issues across the criminal justice system. Pearson Prentice Hall.
Hannah‐Moffat, K. (2006). Pandora’s box: Risk/need and gender‐responsive corrections. Criminology & Public Policy, 5(1), 183–192.