A trauma-informed perspective is the recognition and understanding of someone’s trauma responses in systems of care. It creates space and safety for the person to come as they are without fear of judgment and punishment due to the wide range of manifestations of their trauma. Each piece of any system of care plays a part in acknowledging these responses and engaging in a way that is deactivating, rather than activating them further.

• Self-guided PowerPoint coming soon!

Coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, intersectionality is a term to describe how someone’s various identities, whether personally recognized or socially assigned, blend together to construct varying degrees & forms of oppression, discrimination, privilege, or advantage.

Common examples of different identities that make up these intersections are: sexuality, gender identity, gender expression, neurodivergence, mental health concerns (psychosocial disabilities), physical disabilities, HIV status, level of education, spirituality, race, ethnicity, substance usage status, trauma history, social “class”, etc.

Some randomized examples of intersectional identities within the LGBTQIA+ community are: a non-binary Jewish person in recovery with Tourette’s, a black trans woman living with cPTSD and HIV, an gay indigenous alcoholic living with a dissociative disorder, a lesbian with ADHD who never graduated college, an asexual genderfluid person who is autistic, and a latinx queer drag queen who uses a wheelchair.

Each intersection presents different levels of marginalization and/or privilege depending on how society perceives and treats each identity or combinations of identities. The LGBTQIA+ community automatically has one or more identity related to sexuality or gender identity and expression. Most people within the LGBTQIA+ community also have an intersection with mental health and/or recovery.

The Dandelion Hive acknowledges all of the intersections of the LGBTQIA+ community and works to center them in conversations around mental health and recovery.

Power differentials in recovery and mental health spaces refer to the imbalance of power between recovery or mental health providers and clients. This imbalance happens because providers have the ability to dictate or strongly influence certain aspects of a client’s life and treatment while also having access to specialized knowledge, training, and inherent authority. Clients are often in vulnerable positions due to their addiction, level of trauma activation, lack of knowledge or skills, capacities, limitations, lack of healthy boundaries, lack of experience, inability to properly advocate for themselves, and/or mental health concerns.

1. Role Power: Providers have role power via their professional position, experience, knowledge, and responsibilities. This differs from personal power, which someone’s ability to influence others based on their mental, emotional, and behavioral traits.

2. Client Vulnerability: Clients rely on providers for support and guidance, making them more susceptible to falling into dynamics of dependency, reduced autonomy, and manipulation - even if unintentional.

3. Ethical Considerations: In order to keep a power dynamic within ethical and client-safe parameters, providers must always be mindful of such dynamics. Ways to maintain safer dynamics include creating a safe environment, maintaining an environment of support, maintaining clear boundaries, and empowering clients by giving them context and choice in their recovery process. Context is any necessary or relevant information that gives someone the ability to make an informed decision.

4. Communication: Effective communication is crucial in balancing power differentials. Building trust requires that providers first listen actively, validate a client’s experiences, and then involve them in the decision-making process. This is the key to collaborative and balanced relationship.

5. Impact on Mental & Emotional Wellbeing: Imbalances in power can affect a client’s mental health, leading to feelings of helplessness, anger, frustration, and anxiety. These feelings can trigger someone’s trauma responses, negatively impacting their capacity to deal with the dynamic of the space.

Cultural humility goes beyond cultural competency. It involves not just learning about and valuing other cultures, but also addressing one’s own biases and power dynamics in their interactions with others of different cultures and ethnicities.

This requires us to self-reflect, learn from others, and challenge our own bias, prejudice, and beliefs. It means that we work towards balancing any power dynamics present and respond to the diverse needs of different communities.

Ways to practice cultural competency:

1. Self-Reflection: Regularly examine your own beliefs and biases. Learn how they influence your interactions with people of cultures and ethnicities different from your own.

2. Stay Educated: Continuously learn about different cultures through a lens of curiosity. Read books, listen to audiobooks, listen to podcasts directly from people of other cultures, watch documentaries, attend peer-led workshops around cultural competency, and engage in any other learning tools that broaden your understanding.

3. Listen to Understand: Actively listen more than you speak. Learn first-hand about other people’s direct experiences and seek to understand their perspectives.

4. Address Power Differentials: Acknowledge and work to balance the power dynamics that are present around you. Advocate for others in the spaces you are in.

5. Accept Feedback: Be open to criticism and hard truths around other people’s experiences with you and with the dynamics of the systems you are a part of.

6. Connect with the Community: Attend events that present cultural experiences, celebrate cultural diversity, and promote understanding of different cultures.

Dysregulation is the inability to manage one’s emotional responses to triggering or unwanted stimuli. Dysregulation involves signals moving through the central nervous system, including parts of the brain that play roles in the processing of sensory input and emotions.

Dysregulation expresses differently for everyone but can look like intense emotions, mood swings, yelling, uncontrollable crying, excessive sensory sensitivity, aggression, avoidance, shutting down, impulsiveness, inability to cope with stronger emotions, dissociation, paranoia, etc.

1. Hit that Pause Button: Stop the immediate dysregulating interaction by pitching a quick boundary and stepping away from whatever is triggering the dysregulation.

2. Disrupt the Signals: Break through and/or process the nervous system signals by using tools such as journaling, engaging with sensory input like cold water, exercising, coloring, cleaning, etc. The signals need an exit pathway to process through your system.

3. Identify the Feelings: Consider what you feel in your body in the moment and what feelings are actually attached to it. Name them.

4. Process it with Someone: Talk to someone who can hold space for you to start working through whatever is dysregulating to your nervous system.

5. Find Space to Sit with it: Sitting with something means creating your own space to process your thoughts and emotions. What type of environment and activity, or lack of activity, do you need to process these things?

6. Reflect and State Solutions: How did dysregulation show up in your emotions and behaviors? How can you approach the narrative around the trigger and responses differently next time?

We invite you to further your own understanding and knowledge by utilizing our learning modules. We only ask that you help support us in any way that you are able to. Some modules are grant funded, some are made collaboratively, and some are made possible by donations from our supporters.

• Intersectionality | LGBTQ+ equity | Identiversity

• Trauma, Discrimination and PTSD Among LGBTQ+ People - PTSD: National Center for PTSD (va.gov)

• Trauma-Informed Care-Final (lgbtqequity.org)