Mental Health Awareness Month is an important reminder that mental health support must include people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD), a population that is often overlooked in conversations about emotional well-being and trauma.
People with I/DD experience mental health conditions at significantly higher rates than the general population. At the same time, many face barriers to receiving appropriate care and support. Communication differences, diagnostic overshadowing, limited access to trained clinicians, and a lack of disability-specific training can all make it harder to recognize when someone is struggling.
In many cases, behaviors that are labeled as “challenging” may actually be responses to trauma, anxiety, grief, fear, or unmet emotional needs.For providers and direct support professionals, understanding trauma-informed approaches can make a meaningful difference in everyday support.
What Is Trauma-Informed Support?
Trauma-informed support recognizes that past experiences can shape how people respond to situations, relationships, environments, and stress. Rather than asking “What’s wrong?” trauma-informed approaches encourage supporters to ask, “What may have happened?” and “How can we respond in a way that promotes safety, trust, and dignity?”
This shift can help:
Reduce behavioral incidents
Improve communication and relationships
Promote emotional safety
Strengthen person-centered supports
Improve overall quality of life
Resources for Providers and Support Teams
To help providers build these skills, IntellectAbility offers several educational resources focused on trauma-informed support for people with I/DD.
IntellectAbility’s Trauma-Informed Support eLearn course is a self-paced training designed for direct support professionals and provider organizations. Led by Dr. Karyn Harvey, the course explores how trauma impacts behavior and provides practical strategies to support people in ways that promote healing, safety, and positive identity.
Providers can also join the upcoming webinar, Trauma-Informed Care for People with I/DD, on Thursday, May 21. During the session, Dr. Craig Escudé and Dr. Karyn Harvey will discuss the principles of trauma-informed care and share practical approaches providers can apply in everyday support settings.
As the disability services field continues to prioritize person-centered practices, trauma-informed support remains an important part of improving both mental health outcomes and quality of life for people with I/DD.
Taylor Neubner is Communications Manager at IntellectAbility.
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