The role of trauma-informed formulation in increasing compassionate and person-centred care within youth forensic services

Abstract

Team formulation can provide opportunities for integrating interprofessional perspectives, leading to a rich consensus of how to support someone. Such an approach can be particularly important when working in complex environments, where it is essential that a range of professional perspectives inform a trans-professional approach to care. Youth Forensic Services are one such setting, supporting young people who face intersectional vulnerabilities and have often experienced multi-type traumas. A trauma-informed approach to team formulation facilitates a compassionate perspective to inform decision-making and care planning, encapsulating an understanding of how a young person’s past experiences of trauma may be influencing how they interact with their environment and in relationships in the here-and-now. Additionally, some therapeutic modalities may feature more dominantly within trauma-informed formulation, which may reinforce a greater theoretical basis to the formulation process, offering further opportunities for tailored, evidence-based, person-centred care.