Applying the principles of trauma-informed care in intellectual disability services

Traumatic events are associated with actual or threatened risk to life, serious injury or sexual violence. The prevalence of traumatic events is particularly high among people with intellectual disability. Trauma-informed care is an important yet unresearched area in intellectual disability services. This article outlines the principles of trauma-informed care and considers how these can be applied in practice to people with an intellectual disability. The authors discuss the limited literature on the implementation of trauma-informed care in intellectual disability services, which is primarily drawn from case studies or non-empirical research. The article includes two examples of trauma-informed care implemented in intellectual disability settings and outlines areas for future research.