Institute For The Future

Artifact from the Future: Certified Trauma Informed

This Artifact from the Future is an example of products, services, and experiences that may play out in the future based on the forecast perspective COOPERATION: Transcending Traditional Boundaries from our 2013 Reworking Health: New Authorities in a Well-Being Economy research.

CERTIFIED TRAUMA INFORMED

WHAT:

Every time you see the “trauma-informed” certificate at the job site, you can’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction. A few years back, when an article about the lifelong effects of trauma opened your eyes, you suddenly realized you’d been going about your health all wrong. Getting a grip on your health meant avoiding, or taking time out to deal with triggers that reignited past trauma. And they used to happen all the time at the construction site. But some searching online turned up a community of people from all professions and walks of life that faced the same challenge—and they had a solution: trauma-informed workplaces. You joined the coalition of health providers, community organizations, and groups inside and outside of companies to create standards for trauma-informed workplaces. Now that your company has gotten itself certified, you feel like your whole workplace is behind you.

SO WHAT:

Mitigating the downstream behavioral and biological effects of trauma will require cooperation between health institutions, communities, and workplaces. With one in four children in the United States estimated to have experienced a traumatic event before the age of 17, the next generation of workers will include many still ailing from risidual physical and emotional impacts. Not only will employers face the behavioral consequences linked to adverse childhood experiences, but the biological consequences that have a lasting negative health impact will take their toll on productivity as a result of absenteeism due to chronic illness. Employers that create trauma-informed workplaces that routinely screen for trauma exposure, accommodate traumatized workers, minimize secondary traumatic stress, and offer easy access to professional services will both improve productivity and the health and well-being of their workers.

This Artifact from the Future is a snapshot of what might emerge if forecasts about the future materialize. It was developed as part of our 2013 Reworking Health: New Authorities in a Well-Being Economy research, which explored the new tools and resources that are challenging traditional roles of patients, consumers and providers and empowering new authorities to emerge and engage people in their health.

Like all of IFTF’s Artifacts from the Future, this image offers insights into future everyday lives and is intended to give you an immersive look at a possible future change.