What Does Being Trauma-informed Have to Do with Church? Part 2

Photo credit: Jose A. Thompson, Unsplash.com

223.4 million. 

That’s the number of adults in the U.S. who have experienced some sort of trauma in their life. In an earlier post I shared this same information as 70% of the population. It seems more sobering to translate a 70% statistic to 223.4 million actual human beings. 

Individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.

Churches (as well as businesses, service entities and communities) must become trauma-informed. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) outlines that a program, organization, or system that is trauma-informed:

Let’s start with number 1 above. 

What does it mean for a church to realize the wide-spread impact of trauma and understand potential paths for recovery?

For starters it may sobering and clarifying to apply the 70% statistic to your church. I realize you can do the math, but based on the number of adults in your church here’s what that looks like:

• 50 attendees: 35 have experienced some sort of trauma

• 100 attendees: 70 have experienced some sort of trauma

• 300 attendees: 210 have experienced some sort of trauma

• 500 attendees: 350 have experienced some sort of trauma

• 1,000 attendees: 700 have experienced some sort of trauma

• 1,500 attendees: 1,050 have experienced some sort of trauma

• 2,000 attendees: 1,400 have experienced some sort of trauma

How do you help your staff comprehend these facts? How will you educate your volunteers so they understand how widespread this is - in our society and in your church? How will you come alongside people in your congregation to help them realize they are not alone in their experience and effects of trauma?

There are six key factors in creating pathways toward overcoming the adverse impact of trauma.

We’ll explore these in the next article.