FSU Organizational Continuum

Building Resilient Organizations

At the heart of organizational transformation lies a fundamental truth: creating safe, empowering environments requires a deliberate journey from awareness to action. The FSU Continuum, developed by the Resilience Institute for Strength and Empowerment (RISE), maps this journey through five distinct stages, providing organizations with a clear pathway toward becoming healing-centered entities.

The FSU Continuum is grounded in evidence-based practices and current research on trauma-informed approaches. It draws from key frameworks such as the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) guidance on trauma-informed care [6] and Harris & Fallot's work on envisioning trauma-informed service systems [4].

 

Understanding the Journey

 Organizations don't transform overnight. The FSU Continuum recognizes this reality by identifying five key stages in organizational development:

  1. Trauma Unaware: These organizations operate without recognition of trauma's impact, potentially perpetuating harmful practices unknowingly [1, 6]. Staff may misinterpret trauma responses as behavioral problems, and policies may unintentionally create barriers to healing.

  2. Trauma Aware: At this stage, organizations begin recognizing trauma's existence and its impact on individuals and organizational dynamics [4, 6]. They take initial steps toward understanding how trauma affects both clients and staff, though implementation of trauma-sensitive practices may be inconsistent.

  3. Trauma Informed: Organizations at this level have integrated knowledge about trauma into their policies and procedures [5, 6]. They recognize signs and symptoms of trauma in clients and staff, actively working to create environments that support healing while avoiding re-traumatization.

  4. Trauma Responsive: These organizations go beyond awareness to actively anticipate and address trauma-related needs [1, 6]. They create proactively safe environments and implement policies that support healing while interrupting harmful practices. Staff at all levels are equipped to respond effectively to trauma-related challenges.

  5. Healing Centered: The most advanced stage represents a holistic approach emphasizing strengths, resilience, and cultural responsiveness [2, 3]. These organizations promote healing and empowerment through community-led initiatives, recognizing that true healing encompasses cultural, spiritual, and civic dimensions. This aligns with Ginwright's call to shift from trauma-informed care to healing-centered engagement [3].

The FSU Continuum was developed through a rigorous process of research synthesis and application. RISE researchers conducted an extensive literature review, analyzing seminal works on trauma-informed care, organizational change, and healing-centered engagement.

Key influencers included SAMHSA's principles of trauma-informed approach [6], Harris & Fallot's framework for trauma-informed service systems [4], Ginwright's conceptualization of healing-centered engagement [3], Triesman's work on relational approaches to trauma-informed care, and Sandra Bloom's Sanctuary Model. These frameworks were critically examined and adapted to create the five-stage continuum model.

Throughout the development process, RISE sought input from experts in the field and developed case studies of organizations at various stages of trauma-responsiveness from a wide variety of sectors. This allowed for refinement of the stage descriptions and ensured the continuum's applicability to real-world contexts. Currently, RISE is developing a rubric to further operationalize the continuum stages and support organizational self-assessment and to promote their learning and growth.

References:

  1. Bloom, S. L. (2013). Creating sanctuary: Toward the evolution of sane societies. Routledge.

  2. Harris, M., & Fallot, R. D. (2001). Envisioning a trauma‐informed service system: A vital paradigm shift. New Directions for Mental Health Services, 2001(89), 3-22.

  3. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). (2014). SAMHSA's concept of trauma and guidance for a trauma-informed approach. HHS Publication No. (SMA) 14-4884.

  4. Kezelman, C., & Stavropoulos, P. (2012). Practice guidelines for treatment of complex trauma and trauma informed care and service delivery. Adults Surviving Child Abuse.

  5. Masten, A. S. (2014). Global perspectives on resilience in children and youth. Child Development, 85(1), 6-20.

  6. Vogus, T. J., & Sutcliffe, K. M. (2007). Organizational resilience: Towards a theory and research agenda. In 2007 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics (pp. 3418-3422). IEEE.