Participatory Evaluation as a Vehicle for Trauma-Informed Evaluation

Communities evaluators tend to serve have experienced long histories of systemic neglect and trauma. Given this, past harm that evaluation has had on communities, and anxiety that stakeholders experience throughout the evaluation process, how can evaluators enter these spaces in a trauma-informed manner? How can we avoid retraumatizing communities we intend to help? What does a trauma-informed evaluation approach look like in practice with communities? This panel discussion will feature the evaluation of a trauma-informed practice initiative in Hawaii. While modeling trauma-informed practices throughout the session, participants will come away with an understanding of the 6 principles of a trauma-informed approach; how the principles can be the building blocks to becoming a trauma-informed evaluator; examples of how this was applied to evaluative work and facilitation; connections between trauma-informed care, CRE, and participatory approaches.