Healing hurt people-chicago: Supporting trauma recovery in patients injured by violence

Abstract

Despite the fact that many survivors of serious violent injury experience levels of posttraumatic stress reactions consistent with those of traumatized combat veterans, they rarely have access to psychological support or intervention. In addition to their discrete injuries, survivors from communities with high levels of violence also contend with chronic adversity, developmental trauma, and continuous traumatic stress; all of these, along with post-traumatic stress disorder, heighten the risk for violent reinjury. Trauma centers that care for patients with gunshot wounds and other violent injuries have both an opportunity and an ethical obligation to intervene in the cycle of violence in which many patients are caught. Healing Hurt People (HHP) is a hospital-based violence intervention model created at Drexel University that seeks to address unresolved psychological trauma as an often overlooked, key driver of risk for violent injury. HHP works to interrupt the cycle of violence with trauma-informed approaches that promote opportunities for acknowledging, addressing, and healing from trauma. This chapter briefly reviews literature on the traumatic effects of violent injury and the role that traumatization plays in risk for violent injury. After discussing the ethical, clinical, and economic rationales for trauma-informed, hospital-based violence intervention, the authors describe their experience adapting and implementing the HHP model in Chicago over several years while the city dealt with its highest levels of violence in decades.