Glossary

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Trans or Transgender

A term used broadly that refers primarily to individuals who identify differently from the sex assigned at birth or a term used by people for whom the sex they were assigned at birth is an incomplete or incorrect description of themselves. It is often used as an umbrella term to include many other identities including, but not limited to genderqueer, gender nonconfirming. People must self-identify as transgender (or trans) in order for the term to be appropriately used to describe them.

Source | Anti-Violence Project, adrienne maree brown

Transformative Justice

Transformative Justice (TJ) responds to the lack of a liberatory approach to violence. A liberatory approach seeks safety and accountability without relying on alienation, punishment, or State or systemic violence, including incarceration and policing. This framework rests on the beliefs that individual justice and collective liberation are equally important, mutually supportive, and fundamentally intertwined; the conditions that allow violence to occur must be transformed in order to achieve justice in individual instances of violence; and State and systemic responses to violence, including the criminal legal system and child welfare agencies, not only fail to advance individual and collective justice, but also condone and perpetuate cycles of violence.

Source | Generation FIVE

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Trauma

Trauma is the response to a deeply distressing or disturbing event, series of events, or set of circumstances that can be experienced as emotionally or physically harmful and life threatening with lasting adverse effects on an individual’s functioning and mental, physical, emotional and spiritual well-being. Trauma often overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope, causes feelings of helplessness, diminishes one’s sense of self, and hinders one’s ability to feel the full range of emotions.

Source | SAMHSA-HRSA Center for Integrated Health Solutions

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Trigger

Something that sets off a memory tape or flashback, transporting the person back to the event of the original trauma and causing the individual to experience overwhelming emotions, physical symptoms, or thoughts. The individual can react to triggers with an emotional intensity similar to the time of the trauma. When victims of a trauma experience the symptoms of a trigger, they may or may not relive an event; most triggers cause less potent reactions.

Source | Saskatoon Sexual Assault & Information Centre

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