Every person who walks through the doors at Allies for Health + Wellbeing brings with them all their lived experiences - both good and bad. In a healthcare setting, acknowledging and applying this is known as trauma-informed care.
Allies for Health + Wellbeing staff take a trauma-informed approach across all its services, from the medical clinic to outreach to case management for people living with HIV.
“It's an approach to interacting with patients and clients that is respectful of their backgrounds, their experiences and makes as few assumptions as possible about their lives,” said Michael Latady, MSW, MPH, client services manager - retention in care specialist for Allies for Health + Wellbeing. “[Trauma-informed care] approaches interviews and assessments and care in a way that is patient-client centered, takes into account people's communities, their race, gender, sexuality ... in an extremely nonjudgmental way.”
When people have unpleasant, uncomfortable or traumatizing experiences in a healthcare setting, it can impact their willingness to seek out care.
“Having bad experiences in the past with healthcare can certainly impact visits going forward,” said Dr. Sarah McBeth, medical director at Allies. “People may have mental health concerns around healthcare, like PTSD, if something extreme happened in the past.”
Learn more about trauma-informed care provided at Allies for Health + Wellbeing by checking out this story from our friends at QBurgh.
