The Sanctuary Model is a trauma-informed organizational culture approach
The Sanctuary Model® is a “trauma-informed” method for creating, sustaining or changing an organizational culture – any organizational culture. Why does every culture need to be “trauma-informed”? We now have a large body of epidemiological information demonstrating that exposure to trauma, adversity, and chronic stress are universal experiences that affect individuals, families, organizations, and entire systems in a wide variety of ways – some that are creative and that insure growth, others that produce dangers to our physical, psychological and social well-being.
The Sanctuary Model is grounded in and informed by the growing and interlocking fields of scientific endeavor that study disrupted attachment, acute stress, chronic trauma-based problems, and adversity. The Sanctuary Model tenets have application in working with children and adults across a wide spectrum of problems. Originally developed in a short-term, acute inpatient psychiatric setting for adults who were traumatized as children, the Sanctuary Model is an evidence-supported template for system change based on the active creation and maintenance of a nonviolent, democratic community in which staff and clients are empowered as key decision-makers to build a socially responsive, emotionally intelligent and just community that is able to transform internal and external conflict, and that fosters growth and change.
The basic components of the Sanctuary Model are embodied in Seven Sanctuary Commitments that must guide the thinking, planning, and action of all community members: Commitment to Nonviolence, Commitment to Emotional Intelligence, Commitment to Social Learning, Commitment to Open Communication, Commitment to Democracy, Commitment to Social Responsibility, Commitment to Growth and Change. The Seven Sanctuary Commitments represent a whole interdependent system of values, beliefs, and practices.
The nonlinear operational tool that helps to guide thought, reasoning, and action through time is called S.E.L.F., representing the four interactional domains fundamental to all healing: Safety, Emotional Management, Loss, and Future. In order to reason well, make good decisions that inform future action and allow for appropriate risks, human beings require physical, psychological, social and moral Safety. Our safety is always at risk when we are unable to manage our emotional states, particularly distressing Emotions. In order to be safe enough to use our minds effectively, we must be able to manage our emotions, including the fear of what we will have to give up – the inevitable Loss that accompanies change – if we are to make any movement forward. And no one would be foolish enough to endure Loss unless they had something to gain. Unfortunately, in any effort to make change, we usually experience distressing emotions and loss before we gain. Therefore, positive change requires the use of imagination to envision a different Future. The journey of change always involves taking risks and we can reduce risk only by creating sufficient safety, developing skills to manage the disorientation of emotional distress, being willing to tolerate loss, and remaining steadfastly guided by the vision of where we are trying to go.