Trauma-Informed Interviewing Techniques

A toolkit for professionals working with children and teens who have experienced trauma.

Hundreds of lawyers and physicians have volunteered their services to the victims of family separation in the United States, but the resources available to support these professionals are scarce and often inaccessible to busy professionals in need of practical advice and emotional support.

Through the generosity of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, experts in trauma-informed care from the Stanford Center for Health Education and the University of Texas at Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) were given the opportunity to support the work of immigration attorneys who visit with and hear directly from these children. 

This compact video toolkit offers professionals just-in-time support that will leave them with the strategies and coping skills they need to do this humanitarian work. While the context of this toolkit is focused on working with children and teens at the United States border, the trauma-informed interviewing techniques can be applied to other contexts. 

Learn more about this project

Access Resources

This project includes five videos, a written guide, a set of reflection questions, and links to further resources, free for use under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.

Note: A primary goal while conducting interviews with immigrant children is to avoid re-traumatizing children. Even in a short interview, a trauma-informed approach is crucial to safeguarding a child’s health. The strategies presented in these videos will help interviewers gather accurate information while avoiding additional trauma for both the child and the interviewer. We strongly recommend that interviewers obtain further training from a mental health professional with experience in trauma and development.

Content Guide

Additional Resources

Trauma-informed child interviewing resources and recommendations

• Child Interview Practice Guidelines (Nobody’s Children Foundation)
• Interviewing Children (Lyon, 2014)
• Representing Children in Immigration Matters (KIND)
• Attorneys for Children Guide to Interviewing Clients: Integrating Trauma Informed Care and Solution Focused Strategies (Reitman, 2011)
• The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Protocol: Interview Guide (NICHD)
• Child Forensic Interviewing: Best Practices (US DOJ)
• A Refugee Lawyer Reflects on Giving Clients a Voice (Fleming, 2019)
• Questioning Unaccompanied Immigrant Children: Lessons from Developmental Science on Forensic Interviewing (SRCD)

Understanding the trauma-informed approach

• Establishing a Trauma-Informed Lawyer-Client Relationship(Part One) (ABA Child Law Practice)
• Communicating with Youth Who Have Experienced Trauma(Part Two) (ABA Child Law Practice)
• Sowing Seeds: Trauma Informed Practice for Anyone Working with Children and Young People NHS Education for Scotland
• Opening Doors: Trauma Informed Practice for the Workforce NHS education for Scotland

Resources on secondary stress and vicarious trauma

• The Vicarious Trauma Toolkit (Office for Victims of Crime, US DOJ)
• Professional Quality of Life (ProQoL) resources on compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma
• Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project

Note: Many of these resources and recommendations were developed for purposes of child forensic interviewing, juvenile defense, and/or human trafficking interviews. Therefore, the specific context and goals of this content may not appropriately fit for attorneys conducting interviews with children within the context of immigration proceedings and detention. However, these materials can provide helpful information on general background knowledge and practice recommendations.

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