The Complexity of Trauma

Children and young people in Australia have the right to grow up safe, connected and supported in their family, community and cultures. They have the right to grow up in an environment that enables them to thrive. In communities like the Fitzroy Valley, and many other communities across the country, we see all types of trauma, mostly related to the cumulative and ongoing effects of colonisation.

The burden of disease in Kimberley communities is a direct result of the lived experiences and generational harms of many of the families accessing our services. 

Many health professionals and the families we work with have normalised these cumulative impacts of trauma in such a way that they dismiss them rather than recognise and respond to them.



Trauma is pervasive in society. Many vulnerable communities experience high levels of poverty, alcohol- related harm, increased burden of disease and mental health problems, and there are limited resources and capacity to address these harms. In many First Nations communities, the added burden of the ongoing effects of colonisation, including a poverty of investment and services, compounds layers of disadvantage.

There are many definitions that attempt to capture the essence of what trauma looks like in various contexts.

The short- and long-term effects of trauma have been well documented. The effects of trauma can reverberate through individuals, families, communities and entire populations, resulting in a legacy of physical, psychological, and economic disparities that persist across generations.

We all need to increase our knowledge and understandings and ensure we do not develop negative or deficit thinking and the unconscious bias that often shapes our responses and thinking. We need to recognise the strengths and resilience required by vulnerable communities to respond to these challenges and draw the parent carer and individuals understandings, perspectives and resilience..

Trauma definitions

Select each item to view a definiton

A single, direct, unexpected and overwhelming event such as an accident, natural disaster, or a single episode of abuse, assault or sudden loss.

Repeated and direct exposure to traumatic events over time, such as ongoing exposure to abuse and violence.

A direct form of trauma that results from exposure to complex trauma in early childhood, including neglect, abandonment, physical abuse or assault, sexual abuse or assault, emotional abuse, witnessing violence or death, and/or coercion or betrayal. This often occurs within the child’s caregiving system and interferes with healthy attachment and development. Identifying this type of trauma is particularly relevant in the early childhood context, schools and health services.

A cumulative emotional and psychological wounding over the lifespan and across generations due to a massive group trauma. It can become normalised within a culture as it becomes embedded in the collective cultural memory of a people and is passed down through the generations in the same way culture is generally transmitted. For First Nations people, colonisation forms part of their families’ collective memory, the effects of which continue to be transmitted through generations.

A form of historical trauma, this refers to psychological or emotional effects that can be experienced by people who live with trauma survivors. Coping and adaptation patterns are protective behaviours developed in response to trauma and can be passed from one generation to the next. There is evidence that an exaggerated stress response can be passed from one generation to another via epigenetic mechanisms.3 Traumatic experiences can disrupt development and challenge a child’s ability to regulate emotions and attach to others, profoundly affecting a child’s view of the world.

PTSD may develop following exposure to an extremely threatening or horrific event or series of events.

It is characterised by all of the following:

  1. re-experiencing the traumatic event or events in the present (intrusive memories, flashbacks, or nightmares);
  2. avoidance of thoughts and memories of the event(s), or avoidance of activities, situations, or people reminiscent of the event(s); and
  3. persistent perceptions of heightened current threat.

These symptoms can persist for at least several weeks and cause significant impairment in functioning. 

For further information, visit https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/post-traumatic-stress-disorder