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October 11, 2017
Trauma and Justice
c onTinued from f ronT
checking impulses and controlling
reactions.
“Over time, stress that is un-
treated and unmanaged becomes
trauma,” Moreland-Capuia said.
“That trauma, when not dealt
with, becomes toxic not only to
the body physically, but also im-
pacts mental health.”
Trauma-informed
practices,
she said, help individuals access
the more critical portions of their
brains.
“What trauma informed prac-
tices do is help individuals get out
of the bottom part of their brain,
and use that top, more critical part
of the brain,” Moreland-Capuia
said. “That’s where the healing
takes place.”
For victims of racism, there can
be a long-term fear of discrimina-
tion.
“They are under a situation
where they’re in toxic stress,”
Moreland-Capuia said. “They’re
always looking out for their own
safety, but they also have to be
constantly concerned about what
might happen as a consequence of
someone else’s racism.”
The basis of trauma-informed
care is creating a safe environment
in which clinicians and casework-
ers can understand the root causes
of an individual’s trauma.
In clinical contexts, trauma-in-
formed practices have helped psy-
chiatric specialists address a wide
range of mental health concerns.
Moreland-Capuia said that the
county is porting long-standing
clinical practices to the criminal
justice world.
“This idea of creating safety
allows us to more effectively treat
folks,” she said, “and more effec-
tively move them down this path
to healing.”
Multnomah County’s imple-
mentation of trauma-informed
practices stems from a grant the
county received from the John
D. and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation that was designed to
help the county reduce its reliance
on the jail system.
The county reached out to
Moreland-Capuia to give Mas-
ter’s-level training in trauma and
the implementation of trauma-in-
formed practices for parole and
probation specialists. She has
also been working with the coun-
ty’s judges, to inform them about
the place of trauma-informed
practices during sentencing pro-
ceedings.
Kate Desmond, community
justice manager for Multnomah
County, says that in every-day
practice, trauma-informed care
is allowing her caseworkers to
empathize more with their cli-
ents.
“What I’ve noticed is that we
are being much more patient,”
Desmond told the Portland Ob-
server.
Keith Murphy, a caseworker for
the county and a member of the
pilot program, says that for many
justice-involved individuals, ap-
proaching their caseworkers can
be a challenging experience. He
added that the use of trauma-in-
formed practices is making it less
intimidating, however.
“It’s just a stressful experience
coming into our offices at times,”
Murphy said. “With trauma-in-
formed practices, there’s a better
rapport.”
Having more in-depth conver-
sations with their clients is allow-
ing parole and probation officers
to achieve a deeper understanding
of their behaviors. Desmond and
Murphy say that they will try to
gain an understanding of every-
thing that their client has experi-
enced, starting from the moment
of their birth.
“Your brain develops a certain
way, and that starts in-utero,”
Murphy said. “We’re going under
the hood, so to speak.”
Desmond added that this en-
hanced understanding is helping
the county reduce its use of the jail
system, and use a more thoughtful
approach to punishment for those
who run afoul of the law.
“If you think about who’s in
jail, it’s mostly anti-social peo-
ple,” Desmond said. “You’re
exposing them for 72 hours to a
week to all anti-social people.”
Desmond said that house-ar-
rest, GPS monitoring and commu-
nity service are all viable alterna-
tives to a stint in jail.
“You just can’t arrest away your
social problems,” Murphy added.
Moreland-Capuia expects that
addressing trauma will help to re-
duce recidivism rates, and focus
the county’s efforts on transition-
ing offenders permanently out of
the criminal justice system.
“Helping to manage trauma is
going to be key in helping people
move along their path to healing,”
she said. “Getting better, and stay-
ing better.”