Connecting Behavioral Health 'Trauma' with Human Rights and Social Justice

The National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare is the largest lobby for 'behavioral health' provider organizations  in the United States. They represent:

• psychiatric hospitals
• substance use treatment centers
• jails
• prisons
• not-for-profits 
• community mental health organizations

Here is what they said about trauma in 2011: 

1. Interpersonal violence is a near universal experience of individuals with "mental disorders"
2. Interpersonal violence is a near universal experience of individuals with "substance use disorders
3. Interpersonal violence is a near universal experience of individuals in the "corrections system"
4. Interpersonal violence is a near universal experience of homeless individuals 

‘We cannot hope to rein in healthcare costs and improve healthcare quality if we don’t attend to trauma and its consequences. 

A. Kathryn Power, MEd, Director, Center for Mental Health Services, SAMHSA

Breaking the Silence: Trauma-informed Behavioral Healthcare

https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/NC-Mag-Trauma-Web-Email.pdf

They also said this:

1. The physical and psychological consequences of violence are highly disabling. 
2. The greater the number of adverse experiences, the greater the risk for negative outcomes
3. Examples:  chemical dependency, alcoholism, depression, intimate partner violence, sexually transmitted diseases, suicide attempts, unintended pregnancies, heart disease, liver disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - and much, much more....
4. The economic costs of untreated trauma-related alcohol and drug abuse alone were estimated at $161 billion in 2000.
5.  We can’t begin to address the totality of an individual’s healthcare, unless we address trauma
6.  We can’t begin to focus on promoting health and preventing disease unless we address trauma
7.  We can't bring down the spiraling costs of healthcare unless we address trauma. 

Linda Rosenberg, MSW, President and CEO

National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare

Breaking the Silence: Trauma-informed Behavioral Healthcare

https://www.thenationalcouncil.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/NC-Mag-Trauma-Web-Email.pdf