Publications by authors named "Cathy Kezelman"

Trauma-informed care (TIC) is a model for the relationship of care between service users and service providers that recognises the importance of trauma, past and present, on that person's experiences, vulnerabilities and recovery. Burn injuries are a complex area of healthcare where trauma and the mental health disorders associated with trauma can both precede and proceed a burns injury with complications for recovery. Incorporating a model of TIC in the assessment and treatment of burns patients will proactively work to mitigate and arrest trauma responses, mental disorders and their sequelae in this population.

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Trauma impacts people's coping mechanisms with their ability to function posing risks to their capacity to manage and respond appropriately to stressors, and to recover. Trauma informed care recognises the needs of survivors by focusing on system-wide design and support during recovery, minimising the risk of re-traumatisation, and maximising choice and empowerment for new adaptations and post-traumatic growth. The principles of TIC are currently not being fully utilised in burns practice, including for severe burns, with the nature, extent and impacts of trauma not being fully understood or acknowledged.

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This article examines how particular understandings of trauma as a systemic form of psychosocial harm framed the establishment of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, informed its successful investigatory process, and shaped its recommendations and outcomes. In so doing, the Royal Commission makes an important contribution to the field of trauma studies, which has been characterized by contested histories and is subject to continuing debate in clinical and academic research. For much of the twentieth century, trauma and its impacts have been typically articulated through a bio-medical discourse of individual harm and health outcomes.

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Trauma comes in many guises--from accidents, natural disasters (single incident trauma) to complex trauma such as child abuse and growing up with domestic violence. Illness, medical procedures, treatments and hospitalization are themselves often traumatic, with recent traumas compounding those experienced previously.

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