What We Carry: Creating Trauma-Informed Workplaces that Care

What happens in your mind and body when you hear the word "trauma"?

For many of us, including me, it stirs something visceral. The word alone may bring up memories, feelings, and physical reactions in the body like a tightness in the chest, racing thoughts, or tears in your eyes. No matter how much we’ve healed, trauma becomes part of us. It shapes how we show up, even at work.

Today, I'm writing while in the midst of my own trauma. I'm traveling for work with a few days added on for fun, and my favorite fanny pack has gone missing - along with my ID, passport, credit cards, earbuds, favorite lip gloss, and more. The minute I realized my ID was missing - and the bag it had been in - I felt a surge of panic. I had tightness in my chest, someone was talking to me but I could barely hear them, my heart and mind started racing, and tears swiftly came to my eyes.

But with the support of friends and my partner, I'm making it through. I filed reports, adjusted travel plans, cried, made calls, canceled cards, and I was fully present for my speaking engagement and I spent time connecting with friends and colleagues. I reminded myself that these things can be replaced. I am safe. I am supported. I am still whole.

This experience has been a stark reminder of all that we carry with us and try to navigate on a day-to-day basis. And that’s the heart of this edition: how we respond to trauma, and how our workplaces can support us. Trauma-informed workplaces acknowledge what we carry and create conditions for healing, safety, and support.

What is a trauma-informed workplace? It's a workplace that:

• Understands the widespread experience of trauma and the ways that it can manifest. Everything from a car accident, to the loss of a loved one, to a physical or psychological injury can cause trauma.

• Recognizes the symptoms of trauma in individuals and within teams or within the organization as a whole. I once worked in an agency where our leader passed away unexpectedly. It was both an individual and collective trauma.

• Responds by integrating an understanding of trauma into policies, procedures, and practices. This could look like on-site counseling, paid mental health days, no meeting days, as a few examples.

• Prevents retraumatization by creating a safe and supportive environment that allows people to manage their trauma in a way that works for them, without judgement, and without triggers.

• Values humility, inclusivity, trust, transparency, autonomy, collaboration, and safety.

National Institute of Mental Health

 📊 Data: Trauma Is More Common Than You Think

• 70% of adults in the U.S. have experienced a traumatic event at least once in their lives. That’s over 223 million people.
  → Source: National Council for Mental Wellbeing (PDF)

• In 2022, an estimated 59.3 million adults aged 18 or older in the United States (23.1% of all U.S. adults) reported any mental illness (AMI) within the past year.
  → Source: National Institute of Mental Health

• 64% of workers reported at least one adverse childhood experience (ACE) before the age of 18, which correlates with long-term health and productivity impacts.
  → Source: CDC, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

• Around 43% of workers say that during their workday, they typically feel tense or stressed out. That number rises to more than 61% among workers who experience lower psychological safety at work.
  → Source: American Psychological Association, 2024 Work in America Survey

McKinsey Quarterly: Is It Safe?

⚖️ Equity & Inclusion: Trauma Impacts Us Differently

• Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) are more likely to experience intergenerational and systemic trauma, including workplace discrimination and wage inequity.

• LGBTQ+ individuals face higher rates of harassment and violence, contributing to complex trauma that can be retraumatized in hostile or performative work environments.

• People with disabilities, particularly those with invisible disabilities like PTSD or anxiety, are more likely to worry about their compensation, the expansion of AI, and the resources available to support them at work.

• Workers from marginalized communities may experience trauma not only from personal events but from the workplace itself: microaggressions, tokenism, retaliation, exclusion from leadership, or limited opportunities for growth and professional development.

Trauma-informed workplaces must create a system of support that centers a whole-person approach and is rooted in justice, dignity, and cultural humility.

→ Additional Resource: “How Leaders Can Build Psychological Safety at Work” by Center for Creative Leadership

🔲Boundary Highlight: Redefining What Support Looks Like

When it comes to trauma, boundaries are both individual and collective.

Trauma-informed workplaces support boundaries that:

• Respect how individuals process stress differently

• Offer flexible accommodations without excessive gatekeeping

• Avoid forcing vulnerability or “oversharing” under the guise of team bonding

• Normalize rest, recovery, and care over constant productivity

• Create room for employees to say “no” to triggering tasks without penalty

• Foster empathetic communication and build trusting relationships

When we build environments that honor autonomy, trust, and emotional regulation, we can both prevent harm and promote growth - for individuals, teams, and organizations. Because a trauma-informed workplace is a human-centered one.

🧾 Law & Policy: Protecting Workers from Retraumatization

There’s no single “trauma-informed workplace law,” but a variety of policies and best practices can move organizations toward that goal.

Examples of actions organizations and employees can take:

• Leverage collective bargaining agreements to include language around psychological safety, trauma-informed training, and peer support programs.

• Involve employees in policy development, especially for leave, accommodations, and mental health protocols.

• Create inclusive job descriptions that reflect the emotional demands of the role (especially for caregiving and public-facing work).

• Ensure ADA compliance not just for physical disabilities, but for mental health conditions like PTSD and anxiety.

• Promote paid leave policies that allow for healing without stigma or fear of job loss.

• Integrate DEI, mental health, and wellness efforts so they are not siloed, but part of a cohesive organizational culture.

→ EEOC Mental Health Conditions: Resources for Job Seekers, Employees, and Employers

→ Campaign for Trauma-Informed Policy and Practice: Trauma-Informed Workplaces Toolki

McKinsey & Company

✅ Take Action: Trauma-Informed Spaces Start with Us

🧠 Individuals:

• Learn your personal trauma triggers and advocate for your needs at work.

• Practice nervous system regulation: breathing exercises, somatic grounding, or scheduled breaks.

• Use PTO and leave proactively. Rest is prevention, not failure.

🏢 Organizations:

• Invest in trauma-informed and inclusive leadership development.

• Create clear, compassionate protocols for when employees experience personal or collective trauma (e.g., community violence, layoffs, natural disasters).

• Manage psychosocial risks by supporting autonomy, recognizing employees, resolving negative behaviors quickly, and creating a culture that lives its values.

• Create and support opportunities for employees to connect and consider creating permanent support beyond an Employee Assistance Program (EAP).

🌍 Systemic:

• Support legislation that protects mental health accommodations and expands paid leave.

• Normalize trauma-informed HR and leadership certifications and hire people with these skills and knowledge.

• Fund public health research on trauma, healing spaces, and organizational wellbeing.

💭 Closing Thought

What we carry matters. And when we walk into any space, include the workplace, we don’t leave our wounds at the door.

A trauma-informed workplace creates the conditions for people to feel seen, supported, and safe in the present, which can create a better future.

Let’s be the kind of leaders who create those spaces for ourselves and others.

📩 Resource: Trauma-Informed Support Map by The Dawn Lab

"Trauma-informed workplaces offer a sanctuary of safety and support, a place where people can bring their whole selves and be valued for who they are." ~Sandra L. Bloom, M.D., CTIPP Board Chair, and Founder of Creating PRESENCE