Question
What is system-induced trauma?
Answer
This type of trauma is a newer type of trauma, but it is really important for us as social workers to keep it in our minds. System-induced trauma is the exposure to traumatic systems. Meaning that many of our systems intend to do well or to do good by us; whether it's our healthcare system, our education system, our criminal justice system, the foster care system; they are intended for good but they may have unintended negative consequences or even traumatic impacts.
An example might be the way we do discipline in public education. Now that has shifted a lot because many of us as social workers have come to the table and said this is traumatic. But when we push kids out, when we expel or suspend kids and push them out of school, and tell them they have to be at home for a period of time, that can be traumatic to a child who is constantly being rejected and feels as though they are being pushed away and told that we do not want them in school. So, it is things like that, that we have to be aware of as members of systems, as social workers.
This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from the webinar, Understanding Trauma Part 1: What It Is and How It Shows Up, presented by Nicole Steward, MSW, RYT.
