Trauma Informed Interviewing: What to do and say, and what not to do and say

Trauma-informed interviewing (TII) recognises clients, customers or patients may find reaching out for your service stressful, upsetting and may illicit emotions such as embarrassment, shame, grief, anger, and a range of survival responses related to issues of safety and trust.  TII utilises this understanding to approach interviews with skills that aim to avoid or reduce distressed reactions.

A trauma informed approach paces interviews so the interviewee remains within their ‘window of tolerance’, (emotional arousal within the person’s capacity to manage). This won’t guarantee an interviewee won’t become upset, angry, or distressed. However, if they do shoot through their window, the interviewer has the skills to recognise and apply co-regulation strategies and assist the interviewee to return to a place of relative safety.

A trauma informed approach recognises that a person who is highly distressed and may have a trauma history may be unable to provide a linear narrative of events, or be unable to recall aspects of the events, or may become confused or changes details, averts eye contact or appear evasive. These behaviours do not necessarily indicate lying or be construed as reflective of the interviewee’s credibility.  Likewise, a consistent, clear report or history of events does not necessarily indicate truth or accuracy. Similarly, coherent denial of issues or events cannot be assumed to be accurate, or defensive responses be assumed to reflect guilt. This makes the interviewer’s task complex.

Interviewing highly distressed individuals or trauma victim-survivors requires sensitivity, empathy, patience and a sound understanding of trauma responses. These are skills that can be learnt. As with all new knowledge and training, skills will consolidate and integrate with practice and experience.