Detail from Gulach (2006) by Terry Ngamandara Wilson
Thanks to the rapidly advancing field of neuroscience, there is compelling evidence that overwhelming, life-threating experiences can have lasting effects on the functioning of the human brain. Traumatic events can powerfully shape behaviour many decades later. Various interventions have been identified that are effective in promoting safety and recovery not just in the immediate aftermath but many decades after the traumatic event occurred. Originating in the U.S., there is a growing movement to use what is now known about trauma to inform the design of human services. Various human services whose central purpose is not the treatment of trauma are realising that many of their clients have (undisclosed) trauma histories. Mental health services, drug and alcohol services, childcare services, schools, and custodial institutions among others are proactively redesigning their operations in order to avoid inadvertently re-traumatizing their clients. Central to this approach are the principles of safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration and empowerment. The trauma informed approach changes the focus from what is wrong with people to what has happened to them. It is a strengths-based approach which shifts the emphasis from punishing and stigmatising non-compliant behaviour to helping clients to regulate their emotions and feel safe. It promotes collaboration with clients rather than paternalism.
Although the breadth of institutions a trauma informed lens has been applied to is impressive and growing, this paper is the first to use a trauma informed lens to examine the topic of social security. It argues it is fitting to assess the Australian social security system by reference to its likely effects on clients with unresolved trauma because the objectives of the social security system have broadened in recent decades from income maintenance to changing the behaviour of disadvantaged citizens. This paper asks: what factors are present in Australia’s social security system which may be re-traumatizing vulnerable people? This paper argues that looking through a trauma-informed lens provides a powerful impetus to reverse the punitive trend in welfare reform. The neo-paternalist approach advocated by the US thinker Lawrence Mead, and subsequently embraced in Australia, profoundly misunderstands why people experiencing deep and persistent disadvantage sometimes appear to make self-defeating choices.
Location
Speakers
- Dr Katherine Curchin, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR), ANU
Contact
- Tracy Deasey02 61250587