Being Trauma Informed and Considered When Responding to Victims of Violent Crime and Disasters
Year: 2025
Type: conference-paper
Abstract: Since 2020, New South Wales, Australia came out of an eight-year drought and experienced the worst summer bushfires in 2019/20.This was quickly followed by the worldwide pandemic with international and national border closures and restrictions throughout 2020 and 2021.Then in 2022, devastating floods and storms made international headlines.Throughout this period, countless bio-security disasters affected agriculture as well as land and water farming included.The public and private sectors along with the not-for profit organisations were pushed beyond the capabilities to support victims of these disasters.Mental health was continuously front and centre and yet policy and response did not adequately meet the needs and expectations.Policy and response delivered what was thought was needed by the community and the community were not being listened to what they wanted.Working in each of these disasters, there were several considerations that were continually not being factored in planning: a) How to respond to disasters wholistically as opposed to individually.b) How to effectively engage with the communities, businesses, and leaders to actively listen to their needs, wants and expectations.c) How to prepare the communities for the next disaster so that their mental health as well as their properties are resilient.d) Communities who had been resilient who were now at survival stage, providing the right level of support.e) What individual circumstances need to further be factored when responding to disaster trauma, for example, domestic and family violence, sexual assault, homelessness and socio-economic considerations, mental illness, and cognitive impairments as well as disabilities.Looking at the practical application of policy, programs and initiatives and key lessons from each of these disasters, the session will present how being trauma informed is not one dimensional.For example, during COVID-19 border closures and restrictions, victims of domestic and family violence were impeded from escaping.While the 2022 floods affected communities that are significantly disadvantaged socio-economically, hence the reason many bought within floodplains became homeless and the recovery program purchased remaining homes that were shown to place people at significant risk contributing greater to the home shortage and homelessness issue.This session will take a broader look at trauma, considering its multi-dimensional impacts not only from violence, but as an added factor to disaster trauma, emergency management planning, policy and initiatives.
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W4410354572