What are the core principles of trauma-informed care that a PSS should apply?

• A. Efficiency, profitability, strict control, and independence.
• B. Safety, trustworthiness, peer support, collaboration, empowerment, and cultural humility; recognizing trauma's impact on behavior.
• C. Uniform treatment and conformity.
• D. Neglecting client history.

Answer: (B)

The main idea being tested is that trauma-informed care for a Peer Support Specialist centers on understanding how trauma affects people and building a supportive, collaborative environment that promotes safety and empowerment.

This approach emphasizes safety—creating physical and emotional space where clients feel protected. Trustworthiness involves consistency, honesty, and reliability so clients can rely on the support they receive. Peer support recognizes the value of lived experience and mutual support, showing clients they’re not alone in their journey. Collaboration means working with clients as partners, respecting their expertise about their own lives. Empowerment focuses on enhancing autonomy, choice, and strengths so clients feel capable of directing their own recovery. Cultural humility means honoring diverse backgrounds, checking biases, and adapting approaches to fit each person’s culture and experiences. Finally, recognizing trauma’s impact on behavior helps staff interpret actions as responses to distress rather than willful misbehavior, guiding more compassionate and effective responses.

Choices that emphasize efficiency, Profitability, strict control, independence; uniform treatment and conformity; or neglecting client history do not align with trauma-informed care, because they neglect safety, trust, collaboration, and the crucial context of trauma.