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What is Trauma-Informed Intake?

An evidence-based approach to client interviewing that recognizes how trauma impacts memory, behavior, and communication. Trauma-informed interviewing techniques prioritize psychological safety of clients before information gathering.

What Staff Learn

Trauma and Neurobiology 

How trauma impacts memory, behavior and communication. How to construct a cohesive, chronological narrative when presented with fragmented recall and sensory memory.

Understanding the variability of the stress response: Fight, Flight, Freeze and/or Fawn.

Interview Structure

From the first few minutes designed to establish trust by reducing cognitive load and helping a client regulate their nervous system, to obtaining the evidence without leading questions, and finally the explanation of the legal process, staff can have a clear path to obtaining clean evidence.

Cultural Sensitivity

An awareness of cultural, gender and age-related communication differences. People’s experiences, communication styles, and responses may be shaped by cultural context—and that requires approaching each individual with curiosity, respect, and flexibility rather than assumptions.

Obtaining Quality Evidence

Staff will learn to prioritize the client’s lived experience over a rigid search for facts—allowing narratives to unfold without interruption and using non-leading, open-ended questions to preserve accuracy, reduce contamination, and capture more reliable evidence.

Practical Scripts

All participants will receive a comprehensive take-home PDF containing evidence-based scripts and practical guidance designed to support trauma-informed interviewing, enhance the quality and reliability of information gathered, and foster client trust.

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