People, Not Problems: Adapting the Person-Centered, Trauma-Informed Lens to the Library

Library staff encounter challenging situations regularly. Sometimes these situations are exacerbated by people’s trauma histories. We don't usually know their stories, but we can approach our patrons and our colleagues with a person-centered, trauma-informed (PCTI) lens. PCTI was developed by the Jewish Federations of North America in their services with Holocaust survivors, but it is a lens that can be used by anyone with any population. 

In 2024-2025, Amanda Goldson worked with partners at Jewish Family Services of Charlotte to develop and present 6 training sessions about the PCTI principles to CML staff members. At the same time, Amanda put together a grant-funded, PCTI healing arts series for the public with local artists teaching a variety of media. In this webinar, Amanda will talk about the basics of PCTI and what was learned by adapting PCTI to library services and programs.  

Learning Objectives:
-  Explain the six principles of person-centered, trauma-informed practices. 
-  Apply the principles to specific public library examples.

Brought to you by the Professional Development Alliance of Library Consortia.