Integrating trauma-informed supervision into psychiatric rehabilitation in times of shared traumatic reality: Covid-19

People with severe mental illness (SMI) are exposed to a greater degree of trauma than the general population. Accordingly, community mental health rehabilitation service providers may be affected by the ongoing exposure to traumatic experiences, and the aftermath, in the lives of their service users. The COVID-19 pandemic constitutes as a shared traumatic reality, bringing to light issues of personal security and traumatization among service users and providers alike. In this article, we propose to broaden and integrate the perspectives of community rehabilitation processes and the trauma-informed standpoint using a case study. Thus, we present an option of incorporating principles from trauma-informed supervision into recovery-oriented supervision during times of emergency and adversity. This integration might be beneficial in areas of function and experience for both service users and service providers. Moreover, recommendations for future research are discussed.