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Lesson 4: Trauma-Informed Principles: Trustworthiness

gabrielle 17 June 2024

The third principle focuses on the building of trust through the establishment of clarity, consistency, and interpersonal boundaries.

“I come from a history of domestic violence and other things, so just being okay where you are is such a wonderful gift to give somebody.” – DV survivor

“It’s really, really good…having sort of nice relaxed social engagements helped bring up my confidence and how I felt about interacting with people and trusting them again, which was good.” – Rape survivor

Photography by Mark Bond (www.markbond.com)

Creating trust:

  • Establish interpersonal boundaries: model appropriate self-disclosure – be mindful of the scope of your role as yoga teacher or yoga therapist. 
  • Offer predictability through class structure: provide a roadmap that lets participants know what to expect, for example, “we’ll start with check in, move to a warm up, include some flows, progress/build from previous week, end with a guided relaxation, closing ritual ie sending gratitude to self for making time to be with self”.
  • Create an environment where women feel empowered, validated and heard; this can lead to rebuilding self-trust.
  • Spend time creating connection with participants; this is important as they can feel very isolated.  Consider introductions each week, regular attendees sharing how yoga has helped them, light conversation during the class, staying for tea or a chat at the end of class.

Trauma survivors and people recovering from homelessness, disadvantage and mental health challenges often feel isolated and withdrawn. They may have trouble establishing trust. Make sure that:

  • Each person is allowed to go at their own pace and knows what to expect from each class;
  • Individual needs are accommodated; and
  • No one feels pressured to participate in any activity, whether that be a physical movement or an open discussion.
Goal: Creation of an environment where people feel empowered, validated, and heard.