Trauma-informed approach literature review summary

This is a summary of the full literature review available here.

The vision for mental health and addiction services in Aotearoa New Zealand outlined in He Ara Oranga (1) is that the care people experience in services is trauma informed. Oranga Hinengaro – Service and System Framework (2) identifies being trauma informed as one of the five principles for delivering mental health and
addiction services.

The importance of this way of working is now recognised across many health services internationally (3). While trauma-informed approaches are increasingly emphasised in mental health policy and frameworks, people working in mental health settings have reportedly struggled to translate trauma-informed values and
principles into their everyday practice (4).

A previous literature scan by Te Pou provided a comprehensive review of what a trauma-informed approach is and some evidence on implementation (5). This current review is a fresh look at the literature to understand what such an approach is in 2024, and what factors support the implementation of a trauma-informed
approach into practice.