Plain-language publication summaryIntegrative Trauma-Informed Care (ITIC)
Rethinking how trauma care is provided
Develops a qualitative Integrative Trauma-Informed Care model for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse, highlighting tailored, equitable trauma recovery that responds to individual needs and the realities of marginalised South African communities.
In plain language
What the research found
This publication explored how trauma care can be improved for adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse living in communities where poverty, inequality and limited access to specialised mental healthcare create additional barriers to healing. Working with survivors from the Cape Flats in South Africa, the study developed an Integrative Trauma-Informed Care (ITIC) framework that recognises the lasting effects of trauma alongside the social and historical realities that shape recovery. The findings show that trauma care is more effective when it is personalised, culturally responsive and grounded in survivors' lived experiences. The publication offers a practical framework that can strengthen clinical practice, inform service design and improve access to equitable trauma care in resource-constrained settings.
Key finding
The findings show that trauma care is more effective when it is personalised, culturally responsive and grounded in survivors’ lived experiences.
The publication
Where this comes from
Further reading
Plain-language publication summary2025
How trauma is experienced beyond words
Explores how integrative silence can create space for embodied awareness, relational safety and trauma processing, offering an alternative to the expectation that survivors must rely on words to communicate and heal.
From the publication
‘Stay with the body’: facilitating integrative silence in community-based sexual trauma care. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 16(1), 2025.Plain-language publication summary2025
Understanding wellbeing beyond the individual
Provides a detailed methodology and explores how community-centred, feminist and restorative approaches can support trauma recovery by strengthening connection, agency and embodied healing among survivors of childhood sexual trauma in marginalised communities.
From the publication
Healing Bodies, Healing Communities: A Community-Based Qualitative Study of Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Trauma in South Africa. Healthcare, 13(20), 2601, 2025.
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