Student Health to expand trauma-informed care

Student Health will expand its trauma-informed care model to include students who have been racially profiled, in accordance with Department of Public Safety Community Advisory Board recommendations in their report released in July. Recommendation No. 22 on the report calls for the University to “fund and create trauma-informed mental health resources, including counselors, to support and provide relief for the experiences of racially profiled students within Student Health Services.”

In a briefing with the Daily Trojan Tuesday, Chief Student Health Officer Dr. Sarah Van Orman elaborated on the definitions and importance of trauma-informed care, and said Student Health has “for several years now” worked to implement appropriate practices.

“When we think about ‘trauma-informed’ [care], it’s just the recognition that many people have experienced trauma of all forms in their lives,” Van Orman said. “We know that racial profiling, racism, racial harassment is a form of trauma along with other forms of trauma. And we know that [with] people that have experienced trauma, that impacts how they interact with systems of care.”

Van Orman said Student Health was working to phase out an old model of trauma-informed practice in which medical professionals were trained to “ask people about their trauma” and “make them tell us about it” before adjusting their approach.

“What we thought about now is the idea of universal precautions, … where we recognize that many people may be coming into environments with trauma,” Van Orman said. “We want to create an environment where, regardless of your experience, we have precautions in place to prevent retraumatization.”

In a communitywide email Thursday, Associate Senior Vice President of Safety and Risk Assurance Dr. Erroll G. Southers listed specifics on how the CAB’s recommendations are to be implemented: mental health staff will “have the ability to engage in 1.5 hours of monthly Trauma Consultation and Education Trainings”; all students seeking care at Student Health will be screened for racial trauma and can request a provider with expertise in culturally informed care; and Counseling and Mental Health Services will have clinicians embedded in Student Equity and Inclusion Program offices “to offer tailored support to the cultural centers.”

Training is “universal for our mental health staff,” Van Orman clarified during the briefing.

“We certainly want providers who have more experience with trauma, but it’s actually all of our staff [that] are doing [the training],” Van Orman said. “We’ve invested a lot of time in training and education over the last few years.”

Last Tuesday, California voters passed Prop. 31 — the California ballot measure upholding a bipartisan bill banning the sale of most flavored tobacco products. Van Orman said that the passing of the proposition is a “really positive step forward” and the ban would prevent “a lifetime of tobacco use” among minors, the target audience for such products.

“We know that tobacco-related illnesses are still one of the number one killers in our country,” Van Orman said. “The anti-smoking movement has been around so long that we believe it’s one of the great triumphs of public health; but we also believe that the work is done, [that] people no longer die of tobacco-related illnesses. And that’s actually just not true.”

The week ending Nov. 14 saw 136 coronavirus cases reported to Student Health, remaining “pretty flat” compared to 140 the week prior, Van Orman said. Wastewater testing from residential facilities are “still fairly positive and rising.”

A little over 3% of visits to Student Health the week ending Nov. 7 were for influenza-like illness, and 12.7% of samples tested positive for influenza, suggesting “elevated activity” of influenza on campus, Van Orman said.

“Flu activity is rising in California, but it’s also rising nationally,” Van Orman said. “So we are very concerned about people who are traveling [and] coming back with influenza.” 

Flu activity is highest in southern states: as of the week ending Nov. 5, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists activity level in Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland and the Carolinas as “Very High.” New York City, New Jersey and the District of Columbia are also designated as “Very High.” Activity in California remains “High” along with seven other states.

“If you watch flu activity, it tends to creep across the country,” Van Orman said. 

Van Orman urged people who are traveling over Thanksgiving Break to get vaccinated and wear masks during transit.