How to Conduct a Trauma-Informed Title IX Process

TW: Sexual assault

Conducting a trauma-informed Title IX process means understanding how a sexual assault survivor who is involved in a Title IX process may have been affected by a traumatic event that is the subject of the Title IX complaint.

While not required by the Title IX regulations, all Title IX personnel and investigators should receive training on sexual assault trauma. Learning how sexual assault trauma affects the brain and, in turn, a person’s memory and behavior is crucial in ensuring that Title IX personnel can provide appropriate support and use appropriate language when communicating a school’s Title IX policy and process, and during an investigation.

Proper training should emphasize that understanding sexual assault trauma does not mean applying generalizations or stereotypes to survivors or situations. The process must remain objective, impartial, and unbiased. It can mean that there is an additional or alternative explanation, for example, in a party’s hesitancy in providing details to Title IX personnel, a party’s lack of affect or emotion, or a party’s inability to recall details or recalls details inconsistently. Without trauma-informed training, these behaviors could be used against a party as unreliable or untrustworthy, when it could be, in fact, a manifestation of the trauma.

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*This blog contains information only and is not legal advice.*