Not everyone knows how to help someone who has experienced significant trauma navigate the legal process. Without this knowledge and experience, attorneys risk retraumatizing victims or being unable to help the survivor navigate through the system.
Our team has decades of experience helping survivors of trauma and abuse. Several of our team members have also gone through the process of becoming trauma-informed legal professionals.
Below, we discuss what trauma-informed lawyering is, why it’s important, and what the benefits of hiring a trauma-informed lawyer in Maryland.
Benefits of Hiring a Trauma-Informed Lawyer
You have experienced something terrible and we want to ensure that nothing we do retraumatizes you or worsens how you’re currently feeling. When you work with a trauma-informed lawyer, you:
- Can feel safer, respected, and empowered: Not everyone knows how to work with trauma survivors. We are careful to ensure that the tone and language we use makes you feel safe, seen, heard, and believed. We want you to know that you can trust us and our team. We see you and we believe you. We respect your strength to make it through this experience.
- Get an advocate who can meet you where you are: Trauma can affect memory and the ability to process information. A trauma-informed approach allows us to meet you where you are. We can determine the best way to give you the information you need in a manner that allows you to retain that knowledge. It ensures that the language and tone we use doesn’t do something to trigger you or cause you to believe we are doubting or not listening to your story.
- Receive help from someone who can recognize and respond to your trauma response: Trauma responses run the gamut. They can include reactions like anger, cursing, or speaking very quickly or a calm or flat affect. Someone who has not received trauma-informed legal training may not understand how to respond to a trauma response.
By understanding trauma responses, we can present a stronger case and protect you against any tactics the other party may use. For example, your abuser’s attorney could claim that you are unaffected if your trauma response is to present your story in a very articulate way that appears as though you don’t care. We’ll argue against that and explain the concept of trauma response and how it differs from person to person but does not mean you are unaffected.
- Can remain more calm in court and manage triggers: Court can be very traumatizing for survivors of abuse. If you need to testify, we can create a mock trial environment, preparing you for what may happen in court.
- Promote your healing: Our team will also do what we can to help you heal from your abuse.
Trauma-informed training also ensures that we manage our vicarious trauma and those responses to give you and your family and others in this situation the best possible experience.
For a free legal consultation, call,
(888) 585-2188
What Is Trauma-Informed Lawyering?
Trauma-informed lawyering is approaching every client interaction with the assumption that they have experienced some sort of trauma. This includes watching what you say, how you say it, and the language, tone, and body language you use. It also means we must keep a few principles top of mind with every interaction.
Principles of trauma-informed lawyering include:
- Safety: Your safety, both physical and mental, is our top priority. Trauma-informed lawyering helps us avoid doing or saying anything that might retraumatize survivors or make them feel intimidated. We do everything in our power to ensure you feel both respected and secure working with us.
- Cultural sensitivity: Remaining culturally sensitive to trauma and the surrounding responses is integral. We adapt our approach depending on your specific cultural needs.
- Trust and transparency: Our legal help means nothing if we aren’t trustworthy. We build trust throughout our relationship and remain transparent so you can make the best, most informed decisions for your future.
- Empowerment: Our trauma-informed lawyers ensure that you feel empowered to make decisions about your case and your future. We will collaborate with you and advise you but we want you to know that the final decision is always yours.
Why Trauma-Informed Lawyering Is Important
As a lawyer who handles abuse cases, it’s very important to us that we do no further harm. Trying to help someone who likely has a deep distrust of authority figures can be difficult. Without speaking to every potential client with a trauma-informed approach, a lawyer can jeopardize a case and, more importantly, a client’s mental health and ability to heal.
This is especially important in clergy sex abuse and therapist sexual abuse cases. Our clients were abused by people they trusted and may not have been believed when they attempted to come forward and tell their stories. Giving our clients a space to be believed, seen, and heard is integral to creating a healing environment.
How Members of Our Team Became Trauma-Informed Legal Professionals
Three members of our team have gone through specialized training to become trauma-informed legal professionals with the Center for Hope. The training, called the Forensic Interview Research and Education (FIRE) Program offered by Lifebridge Health, educated two of our attorneys and our lead sex abuse paralegal on how we can best support people in need. This training included intensive cognitive interview and trauma training.
The FIRE Program also taught us the best practices for interviewing trauma survivors (both in person and virtually) using evidence-based techniques as well as understanding delayed disclosure and grooming common in child sex abuse cases.
All of these topics allow us to better approach trauma survivors and their cases. We can ensure that we do everything with the goal of doing no further harm while also ensuring that our clients know we believe them, see them, and respect them.
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See How Our Trauma-Informed Attorneys Can Help You
Our lawyers are ready to help you seek justice. We’re prepared to meet you where you are and support you through every step of the process. Call Jenner Law today to see what we can do for you.
The initial consultation is free and confidential and you owe us nothing unless we recover compensation for you.
Call or text (888) 585-2188 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form