A Brief History of Trauma-Informed Core Principles: SAMHSA, Sanctuary, and Beyond
- Shenandoah Chefalo
- 3 days ago
- 5 min read
Table of Contents
What we now recognize as "trauma-informed principles" didn't emerge fully formed from a single source but rather developed through decades of clinical work, research, and lived experience.
The modern history of trauma-informed core principles is one of adaptation, expansion, and practical application in different places and spaces. No single person or organization “owns” these ideas, and understanding how these principles evolved empowers us to continue their development ourselves.
Community Self-Actualization: Blackfoot Wisdom
Predating “trauma-informed” language by decades, in 1943, Abraham Maslow published “A Theory of Human Motivation.” This became Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a concept foundational to many Western self-development and healing practices.
In his research, Maslow studied the Blackfoot tribe in the late 1930s. There, he found flattened social hierarchy, wealth measured by generosity, and a culture of community over self. In Blackfoot culture, humans are regarded as inherently wise, trusted, and given space to express who they are. Self-actualization is not achieved, but drawn out over time.
Though not as explicit as in Blackfoot culture, the idea of self-actualization based in community with others is reflected in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This influences popular beliefs about health and well-being within social structures.
Therapeutic Communities
In 1953, well before trauma was a widely discussed concept in mental health, psychiatrist Maxwell Jones published "The Therapeutic Community: A New Treatment Method in Psychiatry," which would later prove foundational to trauma-informed approaches. Jones's work focused on creating healing environments rather than simply treating symptoms.
Anthropologist Robert Rapoport, who studied Jones's communities, published Community as Doctor: New Perspectives on a Therapeutic Community in 1960. There, he outlines social rehabilitation and community approaches to treatment. Rapoport identified four key cultural principles that characterized this approach:
Democratization: Flattening hierarchies and sharing power, allowing all community members to participate in decision-making
Permissiveness: Creating safe environments for expressing thoughts and feelings without judgment
Communalism: Emphasizing meaningful relationships and shared responsibility
Reality Confrontation: Providing feedback about how behaviors affect others, creating opportunities for learning through social interaction
These peer-focused, relationship-based principles were new in the 1950s psychiatric setting. Jones later expanded his focus to include "social learning," centering the idea that healing happens in relationship, not in isolation. Though not explicitly focused on trauma, these concepts laid groundwork for trauma-informed principles that would follow decades later.
Evolving Toward Trauma-Informed Principles
Fast-forward to 1998, when the Felliti and Anda Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) study was published. This study brought national attention to the relationship between childhood adversity and health outcomes in adulthood.
Shortly after, in 2001, Dr. Maxine Harris and Dr. Roger D. Fallot published their groundbreaking work, "Using Trauma Theory to Design Service Systems." Building on evolving practice, they articulated five principles specifically designed to address the needs of those who have experienced trauma:
Safety: Ensuring physical and emotional safety
Trustworthiness: Creating clear expectations and maintaining appropriate boundaries
Choice: Prioritizing individual choice and control
Collaboration: Sharing power and decision-making
Empowerment: Recognizing individual strengths and building skills
Between 2002 and 2011, Fallot and Harris released multiple revisions of their implementation guide, "Creating Cultures of Trauma-Informed Care (CCTIC): A Self-Assessment and Planning Protocol." With each update, the application of these principles was refined, demonstrating how trauma-informed care could evolve.
What's striking about these principles is how they are similar and expand upon Maxwell Jones's work in the ‘50s. The focus on democratization evolved into collaboration and choice. Permissiveness transformed into safety and trustworthiness. The principles weren't invented by a focused, robust system of development, but emerged from generations of practice.
Sanctuary Model and the Seven Commitments
Dr. Sandra Bloom and colleagues were developing the Sanctuary Model in the 1980s. By 2004, this approach had crystallized into a replicable program with Seven Commitments, or guidelines for leading individuals and organizations away from trauma-reactive behaviors.
Commitment to Nonviolence: Ensuring physical, psychological, social, and moral safety
Commitment to Emotional Intelligence: Managing and understanding emotions
Commitment to Social Learning: Creating environments where people learn from each other
Commitment to Democracy: Shared decision-making
Commitment to Open Communication: Creating transparency
Commitment to Social Responsibility: Building healthy communities
Commitment to Growth and Change: Fostering hope and belief in capacity for positive change
Notice the overlaps with both Jones's principles and the Fallot/Harris framework, yet with distinct language and emphasis. The Sanctuary Model explicitly incorporated the concept of "social learning" that Jones had developed.
SAMHSA's Expanded Framework
In 2014, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) published its "Concept of Trauma and Guidance for a Trauma-Informed Approach," building upon Fallot and Harris's work while adding a sixth principle, “Cultural, Historical, and Gender Issues.”
Safety
Trustworthiness and Transparency
Peer Support
Collaboration and Mutuality
Empowerment, Voice, and Choice
Cultural, Historical, and Gender Issues
SAMHSA's addition emphasized the importance of addressing cultural and historical factors in trauma, expanding the framework to be more inclusive and comprehensive.
Enduring Elements Create a Human-Centered Approach
Despite different wording and structure of each framework, we can see several foundational elements across all trauma-informed approaches. These models share a profound respect for human dignity and agency at their core.
Every framework prioritizes safety (physical and psychological) as the foundation upon which all other work must be built. Each approach dismantles traditional power hierarchies in favor of shared decision-making, whether called "democracy," "collaboration," or "empowerment."
All of these models recognize what we believe, that healing happens in relationship, not in isolation. From Blackfoot community-based well-being, to Jones's "communalism" and SAMHSA's "peer support," the power of connection and being understood by another person threads throughout.
Transparency and clear communication can also be seen in each of the approaches, acknowledging how trauma disrupts trust. Perhaps most fundamentally, implicit or explicit, all models share an underlying belief in human resilience – the capacity to grow, heal, and transform despite profound adversity.
History of Trauma-Informed Core Principles: Common Themes
Respect and empowerment for every human
Prioritization of safety as a foundation
Disrupting traditional power hierarchies
Focus on healing through relationships
Emphasis on transparency and clear communication
Belief in human resilience
Seeing the framework commonalities, that the list originated in response to trauma almost fades into the background. At Chefalo Consulting, we call it a human-centered approach to well-being in systems. It becomes an approach that prioritizes each person as a unique and valuable human capable of wisdom, truth, and healing.
Evolving Your Own Principles
What's inspiring about this history is how each framework is built upon the work of others while addressing gaps and changing with the times. Each set of principles exists on a continuum of evolving understanding.
This fluid history empowers us to continue adapting. Your organization may use one of these frameworks exactly as it was written. Others can (and should!) draw inspiration from these frameworks to create their own.
The question isn't "which set of principles should we follow?" but rather "how can we adapt these core insights to best serve our community?" Just as Fallot, Harris, Bloom, and SAMHSA built upon Jones's foundations, you have permission to build upon theirs.
Why does being trauma-informed matter? Read more about How Trauma-Informed Approaches Can Transform Workplace Culture.