Trauma-informed interventions in social work: ethical grounding, philosophical reflections, and interdisciplinary practices
Trauma-informed interventions in social work: ethical grounding, philosophical reflections, and interdisciplinary practices

Summary/Abstract: The article discusses philosophical counselling as a tool for developing personal resilience and examines its impact on coping with life challenges. In recent decades, people have faced numerous global changes, including pandemics, natural disasters, and economic shifts, making the issue of personal resilience more critical than ever. Personal resilience is defined as the ability to cope, recover, and grow from crises, consisting of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral components. The paper presents philosophical counselling as a unique approach to enhancing personal resilience, differing from other therapeutic approaches such as psychotherapy. Philosophical counselling focuses on the analysis of ethical and moral issues, aiming to empower self-awareness and foster critical thinking and mental flexibility. The article explores key philosophical approaches, such as Stoicism, Socratic philosophy, and Existentialism, which reinforce a sense of self-control, finding meaning in life, and mental adaptability. This study examines the impact of a philosophical counselling workshop on three dimensions of personal resilience: comprehensibility, manageability, and meaningfulness. The findings show significant improvement in these areas, particularly in the manageability dimension. The results support the notion that philosophical counselling can contribute to strengthening personal resilience, primarily by enhancing the ability to understand life situations and give them meaning. Trauma-informed care is a vital paradigm of modern social work, which enforces the imperatives of ethical practice, context-awareness, and human-oriented interventions. In this paper, five trauma-informed interventions—The Sanctuary Model, the ARC Framework, Narrative Exposure Therapy, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT), and Somatic Experiencing are examined interdisciplinary in a synthesis of counseling theory, ethics, and philosophy. Each intervention is discussed regarding its theoretical framework, practical application, ethical concerns, and philosophical implications. Through the blending of practice and reflection, this paper encourages a paradigm of trauma-informed practice that respects client self-determination, promotes safety, and resists pathologizing narratives. The paper also suggests the importance of cultural awareness, ethical responsibility, and systemic awareness in the processing of individual and collective trauma. Implications for social work education, policy, and practice are discussed, including the importance of interdisciplinary dialogue and reflective practice in the facilitation of trauma-informed practice.

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