An Inclusive Entrepreneurial Support Framework

Abstract

Personal experiences with trauma profoundly impact well-being. Ongoing studies show that life events that cause extremely high-stress responses (traumatic stress) and pervasive and ongoing experiences of elevated stress throughout life (toxic stress) are associated with decreased well-being across the eight dimensions of wellness: emotional, spiritual, social, intellectual, physical, environmental, financial, and occupational. While traumatic stress resulting from events such as abuse, death, wartime conflict, and/or personal injury, are commonly associated with trauma, a more comprehensive definition of trauma looks also includes systemic sources and toxic environments.

Understanding how experiences of trauma can impact entrepreneurs has been relatively unstudied. This report seeks to identify the prevalence of trauma within entrepreneurs in Michigan and also create a toolkit to implement trauma-informed care practices within entrepreneurial support organizations (ESOs).