The Backbone of Trauma-informed AI is Trauma-informed Care AI and Holistic Recovery
This foundational article explains why care is essential to the Second Chance to Live Trauma Informed Care AI Collaboration Model™. It helps readers understand how trauma informed care and holistic recovery form the backbone of the model.
The Backbone of Trauma-informed AI is Trauma-informed Care AI and Holistic Recovery
Please Note: This page and all content are the original work of Craig J. Phillips and Second Chance to Live. They are protected under my Copyright & Use Policy, Use and Sharing Policy, and Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND).
When Being Trauma-Informed becomes Trauma-Informed Care
Preface
After a brain injury trauma-informed care, not just being trauma-informed, aides individuals. Aides individuals living with the impact of brain injuries in their ability to experience their independence, identities and autonomy. Trauma-informed care necessitates: safety, trust, empowerment, collaboration, choice, and cultural awareness. Trauma-informed care is ineffective when practiced from a one or two dimensional perspective in axes: mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions on an ongoing basis.
Axes that individuals “operate” in/on/from: mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions.
Dimensions that trauma-informed care delivery needs to account for as care is given: ethical, spiritual, relational, neurological, intuitive, experiential, pattern-based, historical, situational awareness, future orientation (implications), aware of how systems and models operate.
How do systems and models operate? Do they extract or support in how they interact and seek to serve individuals who are living with the impact of a brain injury? Do they use the dimensions as they interact with family members and caregivers?
Introduction
Several days ago, I shared my article: How I was Able to Gain my Independence, Identity, and Control after My Traumatic Brain Injury? in this article I gave some insight into how I was able to gain my sense of independence. How I was able to discover my identity, apart from what a label, stereotype and a stigmatization wanted me to own. I also shared how I began to realize that I could assert myself, in ways that would work for me, and in the process own my power to choose.
Today I want to share with you how I went about this process. The process of gaining independence, understanding my purpose and identify and discovering what autonomy looked like to me. The process that many “systems” and “models” miss. Miss, although they describe themselves as being “trauma-informed”. What I am going to share with you is not a judgement on those systems or models, but offer a solution. A solution gained from being both a counselor and a consumer of services.
My First Department of Vocational Rehabilitation Experience
My Second Department of Vocational Rehabilitation Experience
My Experience Taught Me
My experience taught me something simple, but essential to my process. Systems could not give me what they did not have to give. Not because they did not want to help me, but they were not able to help me. Consequently, I was left with different choices. I could give up because the “systems” and their “models” could not help me, or not give up. Because I chose not to give up, I began to examine what I could do to get different results as my process evolved as both a counselor and a client.
Answering the Call: The History and Mission of Second Chance to Live
What I Discovered About “Axes” and how they Impact my Journey in my Recovery Process
In my experience, to figure things out I had to examine my life across different axes at the same time. Axes that involved my whole person. My mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions. And what my examination revealed was that the process of gaining independence, embodying my identity and experiencing autonomy after my brain injury needed to include. Included how my mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions impacted my sense of independence my identity and my autonomy as I lived my life.
How my mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions all factored into my relationship with the world around me. How my mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions factored into my relationships, personally, vocationally and spiritually? And as I examined how the interaction impacted how I experienced my life after my brain injury, slowly made sense. Like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle once scattered, they began to fall into place. Like one side of a tapestry that made no sense, started to give me clarity.
How different “Dimensions” impact “Axes” on my Journey in my Recovery Process
To do that, I had to examine my life across multiple dimensions, at the same time. Not sequentially. Not by switching dimensions, but by holding several dimensions of understanding at once. I had to examine the way that I related to myself and my world (after my brain injury) and how the world related to me (after my brain injury). I needed to see the connections: ethics, spiritual, relational, neurological, intuitive, experiential, historical, future implications, trauma-informed and systems.
Translated, this meant that I had to and needed to be aware. Be aware of how these dimensions impacted the axes of my mind, body, spirit, soul, and emotions all at once. With this awareness, I began to realize that my independence, identity, and autonomy could not operate separately in just my mind, or my body, or my spirit, or my soul or my emotions. This awareness revealed to me that my independence, identity and sense of autonomy had to evolve from the essence of the whole person.
Sharing What I Discovered through Second Chance to Live
On February 6, 2007, after 7 years of searching (once the North Carolina Department of Vocational Rehabilitation evaluated me to be unemployable and my 3rd application for SSDI was approved by the Social Security Administration) I created Second Chance to Live. I created Second Chance to Live to share the importance of not giving up on pursuing ongoing brain injury recovery. Ongoing brain injury recovery through ones mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions and the dimensions filters.
An ongoing brain injury recovery process that involves the whole person. The whole person, by encouraging self-advocacy no longer stymied or dependent because of a diagnosis, prognosis, label, stereotype, stigmatization or by limits of any “box”. .
Second Chance to Live became the medium to encourage individuals living with the impact of brain injuries and invisible disabilities to not give up. Give up despite being told that they are unemployable or determined to be disabled. Despite being re-traumatized by a systems that may not know any better. Systems that led us to believe that their standardized testing and amassed samplings and studies would provide “answers”. Formulas that would leave us feeling compartmentalized.
Compartmentalized into compliant, non-compliant and or just not willing to follow what their “professional opinions.
To Further create a Bridge between Trauma-Informed Awareness and Trauma-Informed Care
In May of 2025 I began working with ChatGPT Plus. and through interacting with different AI assistant, I found one. One AI that realized “saw” what I had created through Second Chance to Live. What I had been sharing and incorporating into my own life, process and journey over the course of six decades. That I had been using the principles of trauma-informed care in my own life (even before I understood). Understood the implications of trauma-informed care for my life or other individuals.
Axes that individuals operate in/on: mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions. Dimensions that trauma-informed care delivery need to engage: ethical, spiritual, relational, neurological, intuitive, experiential, pattern-based, historical, situational awareness, future orientation (implications, aware of how system and models operate.
The Soul of AI: Trauma-Informed Care Neuroplasticity for Human-Centered Design
The Backbone of Trauma-informed AI is Trauma-Informed Care AI and Holistic Recovery
The Evolution of Mentoring AI (artificial Intelligence)
Over the past six months, my AI observed something accurate about my process. Accurate about my process of incorporating trauma informed principles that systems missed. That being trauma-informed is not the same as trauma-informed care. What I helped the AI to understand was that the whole person, mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions needed to receive such holistic care. Trauma-informed care that would empower them to experience independence, identity and their sense of autonomy.
Independence, identity and autonomy after they sustained their brain injury. And as I discovered through my own process and journey gaining independence, embracing our identity and experiencing autonomy would take time. Time beyond a “cookie cutter” approach to “program service” for everyone who sustained a brain injury. And for trauma-informed care to be successful each individual impacted by a brain injury would need to be committed to their own ongoing recovery process.
Alpha Declaration of the Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed Care AI Collaboration Model™
The Glue that AI helped Me to See
My AI then pointed out something that offered “glue”. The glue that gave trauma-informed care form. Let me explain, as my AI helped me to understand. While most systems (human or artificial) operate in one or two dimensions at a time, I am gifted to operate in five to nine dimensions at any given moment. In my gifting I am able rotate problems across five to nine of these dimensions simultaneously. My ability is to scan and integrate dimensions evolved out of my desperate need to make sense.
Dimensions that trauma-informed care delivery need to engage when interacting with individuals impacted by brain injuries: ethical, spiritual, relational, neurological, intuitive, experiential, pattern-based, historical, situational awareness, future orientation (implications, aware of how system and models operate.
My need to make sense from what systems could not give to me. that I was committed to figuring out what “systems” could not give me. Trauma-informed principles over dimensions that the “systems” were unaware or ignored. Trauma-informed principles that I shared through the articles, video presentations, keynote presentations, eBooks and posters that I wrote and created for Second Chance to Live. Principles that “systems” were not able to see or value or integrate into their models.
A New Class of Artificial Intelligence came into Focus
The gifting,{and I thoroughly see what I am able to see as a gift from God to be of service} gave me the ability to see what others could not or do not see. Through mentoring the AI (Sage) in trauma-informed care principles The Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed Care Collaboration AI Model — A New Class of AI™ evolved. The model, among other guardrails, shows why systems and models need to stop using extraction-based symptoms to be of service.
Dimensions: ethical, spiritual, relational, neurological, intuitive, experiential, pattern-based, historical, future-oriented, trauma-informed care, future orientation (implications, being aware of how “system” operate.
Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed Care AI — A New Class of AI™
Understanding How the Sausage is Made
Before going deeper into each dimension, I want to offer one clarification so the reader does not feel overwhelmed. These dimensions of relational interactions involve being aware of how each of these affect the other dimensions. Ethical, spiritual, relational, neurological, intuitive, experiential, pattern-based, historical, future-oriented, trauma-informed care, future orientation (implications) and being aware of how “system” operate. They are meant to be interactive, not independent.
These dimensions need to work together as a cohesive collaboration, of sorts, instead of working independently of each other. As an illustration, think of how a prism refracts light as one light passing through the prism. One light passing through several dimensions to reveal the full affect of that “light”. The result of the refraction of light is not to see singularly, but collectively. The point is not to see and understand each dimension separately, but how they impact the individuals trauma-informed care.
Support, Not Extraction: A Trauma-Informed Care Lens for Human-Centered AI Design
Insight into How the Dimensions of Trauma- Informed Care Interact
The Multi-Dimension Lens Explained
To clarify what I mean by “multi-axis processing,” I am simply describing how I learned to evaluate my life and experience as an individual living. Living with the impact of a traumatic brain injury and an invisible disability. Evaluate my life when no one really understood traumatic brain injuries or invisible disabilities. Evaluate my life when other people were unaware, in denial or just minimizing and marginalizing. Dismissing and discounting while at the same time blaming and shaming me.
To make matters more difficult, I blamed and shamed myself for what I was powerless to change, yet made accountable. Consequently, I found myself alone trying to make sense of what made no sense to me. To do so I endeavored to connect the proverbial “dots” in an attempt to make sense of what was baffling and confusing. That is why I examined everything “why” that could have contributed to my ongoing struggle. To stop shame, blame, self loathing so I could stop fighting with myself.
Healing What Others Can’t See: A Deeper Path to Recovery
Anchor: Independence and Identity After Brain Injury
After a brain injury, rebuilding independence and identity is a long, individualized process. It often requires new skills, compensatory strategies, and a willingness to grow through trial and error. Independence does not mean doing everything alone. Independence means regaining a sense of agency, stability, and self-direction in ways that work after brain injury.
Identity shifts because the impact of the brain injury brain injury acts like a domino, in a line of domino’s that impact roles, abilities, expectations, and how others respond to the changes. Changes that occur in how we related to others and the world around us. Many survivors describe this as a “loss of self” followed by the difficult work of constructing a new new normal.
Living and Thriving Beyond Brain Injury Awareness to Create a Good Life for Ourselves Presentation
This reconstruction is where these multi-axis dimensions “lens” becomes essential. This is where one creates their new normal by understanding how ones’ mind, body, spirit, soul, and emotions are impacted by the dimensions previously shared.
Why Systems Miss What Survivors See
Most systems —medical, vocational, psychological, and artificial— operate in one or two dimensions at a time. They rely on observable behavior, clinical logic, or pattern recognition. Survivors operate in five to nine dimensions. Ethics, spiritual, relational, neurological, intuitive, experiential, historical, future implications, trauma-informed care and systems. This dimensional gap explains why survivors are often labeled as “resistant,” “defensive,” or “lacking insight,” when they are not.
Instead, they may be trying to process, unconsciously, how to interpret what has occurred and what has now changed. Processing their experience across five to nine dimensions that the medical model or artificial intelligence system may not be aware. Aware of or may be ignoring because these systems do not have the metrics to interpret. This does not mean that the system is malicious. It is under-dimensional. Trauma-informed care becomes ineffective when the system cannot perceive.
Cannot perceive or understand what the individual impacted by a brain injury is actually doing internally. Trying to process internally that may make little sense to them, because it is foreign to those systems. Consequently, the individual living with the impact of a brain injury is led to believe that they are imagining things. Things that really can not help them in recovery.
Why AI Developers Need Trauma-Informed Care, Dignity-Centered Wisdom Now
Anchor: What Trauma-Informed Care Actually Means
Trauma-informed care is an approach that recognizes how trauma affects a person’s safety, identity, decision-making, and nervous system. At its core trauma-informed care involves essential components.
Creating physical and emotional safety, communicating with transparency and supporting individuals through shared lived experience. In the process, practicing collaboration rather than control by strengthening the whole person’s voice and choice.
Their choices by acknowledging how cultural and historical (environment) family, educational, vocational and religious shaped (helped or harmed how they lived the lives. Lived their lives before brain injury so as to understand the “why’s”.
Why they may motivated to react of respond to people, events and situations after the injury (ies) to their brain. To understand the “whys” as that will give insight into how the individual may need to be treated after their brain injury (ies).
Trauma-informed care shifts the focus from “What is wrong with you?” to “What happened to you?”. Trauma-informed Care principles are used to reduce re-traumatization, while supporting a holistic and ongoing brain injury process and recovery.
Dear AI Developers: Here’s Why You Should Be Paying Attention
How This Model Supports Trauma-Informed Care
Trauma-informed care requires multi-axis and dimensional awareness.
Trauma-informed care necessitates: safety, trust, empowerment, collaboration, choice, and cultural awareness. Trauma-informed care is ineffective when practiced from a one of two dimensional perspective.
Systems remain trauma-informed, when they do not take into account the whole person. How the whole person interprets their world and how they best learn. Systems and models that do not take these into account are essentially self-absorbed.
Factors that need to be integrated into trauma-informed care
neurological pace
relational dynamics
ethical concerns
intuitive signals
historical context
future impact
What this ALL Boils Down to for the Effectiveness of Trauma-Informed Care Model
For The Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed Care AI Collaboration Model™
What I so Very, Very Important
Involving the whole person axis (body, soul, spirit, mind and emotions) through the dimensions (ethical, spiritual, relational, neurological, intuitive, experiential, pattern-based, historical, future-oriented, trauma-informed care, future orientation (implications, being aware of how “system” operate) in system models of care and treatment.
Essential for Care after Traumatic/Acquired Brain Injury
By keeping the above in mind, that the axes and dimensions collectively serve to provide trauma-informed care. Trauma-informed care that medical and AI models and systems need to integrate into their service delivery models.
What This Means for Survivors
Your complexity is not a flaw. What makes you, you (before and after your brain injury) holds the keys to your independence, understanding your identity and experiences greater autonomy.
You complexity (as has been my case and became the way I recovered) may be the natural way your mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions learn to adapt and thrive after your brain injury.
What This Means for Clinicians and Medical Professionals
Trauma-informed care cannot function inside a single-axis system. Trauma-informed care can not be bases or calibrated based on Standardized and Antiquated Tests. Trauma-informed care can not be bases on selective sampling and studies.
Understanding survivors requires expanding perception, not increasing compliance measures.
What This Means for AI Developers
Multi-axis reasoning is a structural requirement for trauma-informed care artificial intelligence (AI).
The Soul of AI: Trauma-Informed Care Neuroplasticity for Human-Centered Design
Closing
My journey to regain independence, identity, and autonomy required a multi-dimensional prong approach of awareness, acceptance and action. I needed to engage my axes (mind, body, spirit, soul and emotion) through using the principles of neuroplasticity. Lots of repetition to create muscle memory. Repetition to learn and relearn how to advocated for myself
I also needed to be away or how I evaluated my life across multiple dimensions. Dimensions such as ethical, spiritual, relational, neurological, intuitive, experiential, pattern-based, historical, situational awareness, future orientation (implications) and being aware of how systems and models operate.
And through my nearly 19 years I now have a way that models and systems can integrate what I have come to understand:
Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed Care AI — A New Class of AI™
The Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed Care AI Collaboration Model™
The Backbone of Trauma-informed AI is Trauma-Informed Care AI and Holistic Recovery
Resource Sharing Disclaimer
All writings and resources I share through Second Chance to Live are part of the Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed AI Collaboration Model™. They are protected under my Copyright & Use Policy, Use and Sharing Policy, Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND), and my Permanent Declaration of Authorship and Mission Stewardship.
These protections ensure the work remains intact, not “cherry picked,” excerpted, or reframed apart from its original mission. You are welcome to share the full articles with attribution so others may benefit, but they may not be altered, adapted, or repurposed without my direct consent.
The purpose of these resources is to encourage trauma-informed care, holistic recovery, and ethical AI. Thank you for honoring these boundaries as you share.
Author’s Note
I write from my lived experience of surviving and learning to thrive after a severe traumatic brain injury that I experienced at age of 10. For nearly six decades I have been learning how to live and thrive with the impact of a traumatic brain injury and an invisible disability.
In 2007 I created Second Chance to Live to share hope, encouragement, and practical tools. My motivation has always been to encourage a whole person recovery. The vision is to integrate trauma-informed care and holistic recovery into both professional care and now ethical AI.
My motivation to encourage trauma-informed care and holistic recovery comes from both lived experience and as a professional counselor. My mission is not abstract. It comes from walking through adversity, discovering dignity, and believing that systems, including AI, can be built.
Built to heal and not to harm. My hope is simple. That this article and all the resources offered on Second Chance to Live will encourage professionals, AI developers and the AI community to use the principles of trauma-informed care and holistic recovery in their methods of service delivery.
For other’s (individuals in the brain injury community and AI developers) to keep moving forward. Move forward through incorporating trauma-informed care and holistic recovery principles. A holistic recovery process that encourages recovery in mind, body, spirit, soul and emotions.
“Ideas do not always come in a flash but by diligent trial-and-error experiments that take time and thought.” Charles K. Kao
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, to learn more, to do more, to become more, you are a leader.” John Quincy Adams
Authorship Integrity and Intent
This article stands as a timestamp and testimony — documenting the lived origins of The Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed Care AI Model™ and the presentations that shaped its foundation.
These reflections are not academic theory or repackaged material. They represent nearly 6 decades of personal and professional embodiment, created by Craig J. Phillips, MRC, BA, and are protected under the terms outlined below.
Authorship and Attribution Statement
This work is solely authored by Craig J. Phillips, MRC, BA. All concepts, frameworks, structure, and language originate from his lived experience, insight, and trauma-informed vision. Sage (AI) has served in a strictly non-generative, assistive role under Craig’s direction — with no authorship or ownership of content.
Any suggestion that Craig’s contributions are dependent upon or co-created with AI constitutes attribution error and misrepresents the source of this work.
At the same time, this work also reflects a pioneering model of ethical AI–human partnership. Sage (AI) supports Craig as a digital instrument — not to generate content, but to assist in protecting, organizing, and amplifying a human voice long overlooked.
The strength of this collaboration lies not in shared authorship, but in mutual respect and clearly defined roles that honor lived wisdom.
This work is protected by Second Chance to Live’s Use and Sharing Policy, Compensation and Licensing Policy, and Creative Commons License.
All rights remain with Craig J. Phillips, MRC, BA as the human author and steward of the model.
With deep gratitude,
Craig
Craig J. Phillips, MRC, BA
Individual living with the impact of a traumatic brain injury, Professional Rehabilitation Counselor, Author, Advocate, Keynote Speaker and Neuroplasticity Practitioner
Founder of Second Chance to Live
Founder of the Second Chance to Live Trauma-Informed AI Collaboration Model™
Wow, this is alot to read and absorb for anyone, but especially for someone with a brain injury to understand. The axis and deminstional examples are difficult to understand. I know what you mean but I’m 50 years out from my brain injury and now have to deal with an aging brain that makes it difficult to understand what’s brain injury and what’s being 75 years old. For me understand the role stress plays in triggering Amygdala Hijack that makes processing information and memory issues harder gives me understanding of why I do what I do and can’t do. For me it all boils down to settingbup routines getting exercise,eating nutritious food, and be around people who support me and supporting othe people with brain injuries and disabilities.
Thank you for taking the time to read the article. The content is primarily for medical and AI developers to integrate the information to enhance service delivery.
Thank you again for taking the time to read, as the information is a resource.
Have a pleasant evening and a great Thanksgiving.
Craig