The Impact of Stigma and the Importance of Being Trauma-Informed Professional Experience Article
As I reflect on my journey with mental health, both personally and professionally, I am reminded of the impact that casual conversation and language can have on the stigma we work so hard to end. For as long as I can remember, I have heard the names of diagnoses be used to describe everyday things like weather changes or simply an individual who expresses organic emotions that do not need to be defined or labeled, clinically. When I entered the profession of mental health, I entered with my own history of trauma which contributed to bouts of crippling anxiety and depression. After separating from the Air Force, I encountered some great as well as a few not-so-great providers. I learned what it felt like to feel heard and unfortunately, on some occasions I learned what it felt like to be labeled. Taking the good with the bad, my own experiences led to a deeper level of empathy and understanding for individuals that I later encountered in my professional career. My personal experiences fueled my desire to hold space for people in need as well as advocate for individuals who experience various conditions to be treated fairly while being active members of
society without being labeled and judged. After several years of working in the mental health field, I returned to school to become a therapist. I will never forget the emotions I felt when I wrote my letter of intent to submit with my application. I spoke about a few of my personal experiences and explained how this ignited my desire to become a therapist. Fast forward years later, after continuing to see the impact of stigma and labeling from “the other side”, I have the desire to speak on this topic through the eyes of a clinician. Addressing the Elephant in the Room: Stigma and Labeling In full transparency, I cringe when I hear anyone in the field speak with stigmatizing language or call consumers by the name of their diagnosis rather than describing them as the human they are at the core. This is the junction in which the importance of being trauma-informed needs to be magnified. To be able to provide trauma-informed care to the individuals and groups that we serve, we must first understand the impact that lived experiences and past traumas can have on someone. This would
