Why a Trauma Specific Directory is necessary
A trauma-specific directory connects people with qualified, trauma-trained professionals who understand the challenges of complex trauma. It provides a reliable way for survivors, their loved ones, and referrers to identify practitioners meeting best-practice standards, empowering individuals to find the right support and fostering better recovery outcomes.
Research suggests that a significant proportion of psychiatric in-patients and out-patients, as well as the overwhelming majority of incarcerated individuals, have a history of complex trauma. This is particularly true for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, who experience disproportionately high rates of trauma compared to other groups. Yet, despite these findings, accessing helpful treatment for a history of complex trauma remains a significant challenge, leaving many people unsure where to turn for support.
The Gap in training for Complex Trauma
Many health and mental health professionals practising today have not received training to screen for, recognise, or treat complex trauma. Additionally, much of the information presented in resources tended to focus on controversies rather than accurately reflecting current scientific knowledge.
As a result, many health practitioners fail to recognise that the source of many people’s presenting difficulties may stem from prolonged exposure to a traumatic environment or a difficult childhood. For instance, it is estimated that someone with a dissociative disorder spends an average of seven years in the health system before receiving an accurate diagnosis.
A resource for Trauma-Informed care in WA
To address this gap, COTWA has developed a spatial directory of trauma-trained professionals in Western Australia. This directory connects individuals living with complex trauma, their loved ones, and referring health professionals with clinicians who have gone above and beyond their basic tertiary education to gain specialised trauma training.
Building a Trauma-Informed future
A fundamental goal of COTWA is to support new and experienced service providers across Western Australia. This ensures our database continues to grow and evolve into an invaluable resource for many years to come. By fostering a network of trauma-informed professionals, we aim to make it easier for people across Western Australia to find the support and care they need.
Requirements for COTWA Directory listing
Only professionally registered clinicians with industry-standard training in trauma-specific treatments, and who have been independently assessed to have substantial experience in working with traumatised people, have been listed in the COTWA Directory.
Every clinician listed must:
- Be a Clinical Member of COTWA and meet internationally accepted best-practice standards for trauma-specific skills in treating adults, children, or families who have a lived experience of complex trauma:
- Hold a current unrestricted practicing certificate with an eligible Australian professional regulatory body for their discipline, at the level of full membership.
- Be thoroughly assessed to possess the required knowledge-base and skill-set required for trauma-informed practice
- Have a minimum of three years full-time (or equivalent) professional experience working as trauma-specific therapists in direct clinical service delivery with survivors
- Provide a written reference from two colleagues (one of whom must be a clinical supervisor) who vouched for their clinical expertise as trauma-trained practitioner. For this process, referees are asked to provide information on how long they’ve known the clinician and in what context; how regularly they had contact with the clinician to get an informed view of their work; and also to comment on what they know about the clinician’s complex-trauma case load; and whether they would, based on their experience of the clinician and their work, recommend that person as a competent trauma-informed service provider.
Finally, clinicians must demonstrate their knowledge and training in trauma-informed practices to support individuals with complex trauma by:
- Listing detailed information on the relevant professional development undertaken in the past five years, that is specific to the treatment of people with a history of complex trauma.
- Specifying which trauma-specific treatment modalities they use, and what training at what level they have received in those modalities.
- Describing the general therapeutic approach they use when working with people with a lived experience of complex trauma. They are also required to specifically reference how they incorporate the Blue Knot Foundation’s Practice Guidelines for Treatment of Complex Trauma and Trauma Informed Care and Service Delivery, with practical examples of how the core trauma-informed principles of safety, trustworthiness, collaboration, empowerment, choice, and respect for cultural and other forms of diversity are implemented in their trauma-specific clinical work.
- Convincingly demonstrate they offer person-centred and tailor-made treatments that caters to every individual’s unique needs; while simultaneously heeding the distinctive features, coping strategies, and challenges of which therapists need to take account when working with trauma that is interpersonally generated (insofar as it is distinct from other types of trauma, with which it may co-exist)