This post discusses Principle 5: Empowerment, Voice, & Choice of SAMHSA's six key principles of a trauma-informed approach.
The consequences of substance use disorders (SUD) and trauma can leave clients feeling disempowered. SUD and trauma can impact clients’ feelings of choice. Empowerment and choice are one of SAMHSA's six guiding principles of trauma-informed care. This post outlines strategies for empowering clients with SUD and traumatic stress who are seeking recovery and assuring their voices and choices are included in the process of recovery.
There are a number of ways to help empower clients and to assure they have choice. This can begin by establishing an egalitarian relationship with clients, affirming their agency and choice in the treatment and recovery plan, and by not doing for clients things they can do for themselves (Herman, 2015).
Giving traumatic experiences a name can also be empowering. Clients don't always have the language, words, or names to describe what happened to them. An example of this would be a counselor stating, “Your experience sounds like domestic violence.”
Another way to empower and assure choice is to honor multiple pathways of recovery and recommend options such as harm reduction for clients who are not currently interested in recovery. Should motivation for recovery increase, it can be empowering to include clients in the process of defining recovery for themselves.
Strength-based counseling, including strength-based assessments, can also be empowering. You can ask clients strength-based questions, such as:
These strategies are simple, effective tools for client empowerment that, when used along with your deeply held belief in a client’s capacity to change and grow, can significantly strengthen the helping relationship and the possibility of positive recovery outcomes.
Herman, J. Trauma and Recovery: The aftermath of violence—from domestic abuse to political terror. (2015). Generic Publishing. Sydney, AU.AMHSA). (2014). SAMHSA’s Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-informed Approach. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207204/#part2_ch1.s11
Read the other posts in this series on SAMHSA's six guiding principles of TIC!
Mark Sanders, LCSW, CADC, is an international speaker in behavioral health whose presentations have reached thousands throughout the United States, England, Canada, Spain, Lithuania, West Indies, and Guam. He is the recipient of five behavioral health lifetime achievement awards, including the prestigious NAADAC Enlightenment Award. He is the founder of The Museum of African American Addictions, Treatment and Recovery, which was honored as the 2023 winner of the Faces and Voices of Recovery Innovations In Recovery Award. He is the author of 5 books on recovery and has enjoyed a 30-year career as a university educator.
Isa Vélez Echevarria, PsyD, is a Puerto Rican clinical psychologist. She is the Ohio State Project Manager for the Great Lakes Addiction, Mental Health, and Prevention Technology Transfer Centers managed by the Center for Health Enhancement Systems Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During her pre-doctoral internship at Children’s Institute in Los Angeles, CA, she was certified as an Interpersonal Psychotherapy Clinician. She was trained in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Family Therapy. In addition, she provides telehealth services to communities of color in Massachusetts and Puerto Rico. Her clinical work has focused on culturally tailored and trauma-informed services for Latinx communities.
