Quick Overview: Trust matters in both settings, but the sources describe it differently. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration explains that trauma-informed programs make organizational decisions with the goal of building and maintaining trust with participants and staff. The National Institute of Mental Health identifies rapport and trust as essential in psychotherapy and says a preliminary conversation can help a person understand how therapy will proceed and whether they feel comfortable. Neither source can determine personal fit or outcomes for an individual.
Trust Has Different Meanings at the Program and Relationship Levels
A trauma-informed program is an organizational approach. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration describes a trauma-informed program, organization, or system as one that recognizes the widespread impact of trauma, understands potential paths for recovery, recognizes signs and symptoms of trauma, and integrates knowledge about trauma into policies, procedures, and practices while seeking to actively resist retraumatization.
Within that approach, trustworthiness and transparency are among the principles identified by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The organization states that decisions are conducted with the goal of building and maintaining trust with participants and staff.
A therapy relationship concerns the interaction between a person seeking psychotherapy and a therapist. The National Institute of Mental Health states that a preliminary conversation can help a person understand how treatment will proceed and whether they feel comfortable with the therapist. It also states that rapport and trust are essential because discussions in therapy are deeply personal and because it is important to feel comfortable with the therapist and have confidence in their expertise.
A Trauma-Informed Program Describes an Organizational Approach
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration describes several principles within trauma-informed approaches. Along with trustworthiness and transparency, these include safety, peer support, collaboration and mutuality, and empowerment, voice, and choice.
The source describes safety as participants and staff feeling physically and psychologically safe. It describes peer support and mutual self-help as vehicles for establishing safety and hope, building trust, enhancing collaboration, and using lived experience to promote recovery and healing. It describes collaboration and mutuality as placing importance on partnering and leveling power differences between staff and service participants.
Its description of empowerment, voice, and choice states that organizations foster a belief in the primacy of the people they serve to heal and promote recovery from trauma. These are principles of an organizational approach. They do not establish that a particular program will be a fit for a particular person or lead to a particular result.
A Therapy Relationship Involves Rapport and Trust
The National Institute of Mental Health uses the term psychotherapy, also called talk therapy, for a variety of treatments that aim to help a person identify and change troubling emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. It notes that therapists have different professional backgrounds and specialties and that a therapist’s approach depends on training, experience, and the condition being treated.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, a preliminary conversation may happen in person, by phone, or virtually. The purpose described by the source is to help a person understand how treatment will proceed and whether they feel comfortable with the therapist.
The source also provides examples of questions for a prospective therapist, including questions about the therapist’s specialty, approach, rationale and evidence base, goals of therapy, a recommended time frame or number of sessions, how progress will be assessed, and what may happen if improvement does not begin. Those examples do not predict what a specific therapist will recommend or what a therapy relationship will be like.
Questions for Reflecting on Trust and Therapy Comfort
The following questions are reflection prompts. They are not a measure of whether a program, therapist, or therapy approach is right for you.
| Reflection question | Related source topic |
|---|---|
| What would I like to understand about how therapy may proceed? | The National Institute of Mental Health says a preliminary conversation can help a person understand how treatment will proceed. |
| What do I notice when I consider whether I feel comfortable with a therapist? | The National Institute of Mental Health identifies comfort with the therapist as part of a preliminary conversation. |
| Which questions about approach, goals, or progress matter to me? | The National Institute of Mental Health lists these as topics to ask a prospective therapist about. |
| What do I want to learn about a program’s stated approach? | The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration describes trauma-informed approaches at the program, organization, and system level. |
| How does a program describe trustworthiness and transparency in its decisions? | The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration identifies trustworthiness and transparency as a trauma-informed principle. |
Reflection Cannot Determine Individual Fit
General descriptions can clarify what a source means by a trauma-informed approach, rapport, trust, or a preliminary conversation. They cannot determine whether a particular program, therapist, or approach fits an individual’s circumstances.
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s description of trauma-informed programs does not determine personal fit or outcomes for an individual reader. Likewise, the National Institute of Mental Health’s discussion of rapport and trust does not determine whether a particular therapy relationship will be comfortable or effective for a particular person.
Practice Note: Rooted Integrative Therapy’s FAQs describe scheduling a consultation call as a first step, with an opportunity to ask questions and consider fit. Its Connect page invites inquiries and appointment requests through its contact details or form.
Questions to Bring to a Consultation
- How will therapy proceed?
- What approach do you use in therapy?
- What is the rationale for that approach and its evidence base?
- What are the goals of therapy?
- How will progress be assessed?
- What happens if improvement does not begin?
Questions Can Focus on the Process Described by the Source
These questions are adapted from topics identified by the National Institute of Mental Health for a prospective therapist. A consultation may provide an opportunity to ask questions and consider fit, as Rooted Integrative Therapy’s FAQs describe. The available information does not establish what will be discussed in every consultation or whether a consultation will lead to an appointment.
Rooted Integrative Therapy Practice Information
Rooted Integrative Therapy lists individual therapy, couples therapy, group therapy, and therapy intensives. Alina Hovsoyan provides in-person therapy near Orem and Provo, with virtual therapy across Utah.
The practice’s Connect page invites inquiries and appointment requests using its contact details or form. A person who wants to contact the practice can use the Connect page for that purpose.
What the Practice Information Does and Does Not Establish
The practice information identifies listed services, access locations, and ways to inquire or request an appointment. It does not determine which service fits a person, whether a service is available at a particular time, or what therapy will involve for an individual.
FAQs
What is a trauma-informed program?
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration describes it as a program, organization, or system that recognizes trauma’s widespread impact, integrates knowledge about trauma into its policies, procedures, and practices, and seeks to actively resist retraumatization.
Why does trust matter in a trauma-informed program?
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration states that organizational decisions are conducted with the goal of building and maintaining trust with participants and staff.
What does trust in therapy mean?
The National Institute of Mental Health identifies rapport and trust as essential. It states that a preliminary conversation can help a person understand how therapy will proceed and whether they feel comfortable with the therapist.
What is a consultation call at Rooted Integrative Therapy for?
Rooted Integrative Therapy’s FAQs describe a consultation call as a first step that offers an opportunity to ask questions and consider fit.
Sources and Further Reading
Sources used for this article:
- Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: Trauma-Informed Approaches and Programs
- National Institute of Mental Health: Psychotherapies
A Grounded Next Step
If you would like to inquire with Rooted Integrative Therapy, the Connect page invites inquiries and appointment requests. Please do not include urgent or highly sensitive clinical information in a general inquiry.
This article is for general education only. It is not a diagnosis, treatment plan, or substitute for individualized mental-health care. A qualified mental-health professional can help you consider what fits your circumstances.