All about Action
Work Package 3
We are turning our learning into action. Building on work packages 1 and 2, we are working with organisations and young people to co-produce a resource to help organisations work in more trauma-informed ways.
This resource will be implemented for 6 months and then evaluated. We will learn from this to refine the resource for other organisations.
The ultimate aim is to develop organisational capacity to be trauma-informed to protect young people they encounter.
We call this Work Package the Attuned To Trauma stream.
Runs from October 2023 - June 2025
Already signed up? Go to the Participants’ Page
Trauma-informed means remembering that any young person could have been through adversity and trauma. This may shape what they need and how they respond to your and in your setting or organisation.
Why should organisations, settings and services be trauma-informed?
Because trauma-informed ways of working can:
help young people to feel safe to engage, take part, contribute and do well in the setting.
lower the risk of re-traumatising young people. Re-traumatisation is when something in the present brings up something frightening from the past. This could be the way someone treats you (eg overrules you), a circumstance (eg being confronted) or a feeling (eg being afraid).
help adults understand the needs, actions and responses of young people they work with. This may be shaped by the adversity they have lived through.
be good for staff who may have lived through adversity and trauma, and those who are are affected when they see the distress of others.
What help do UK public sector settings want to become more trauma-informed?
We start by learning how the lived experience of young people (WP1) and the national data analysis (WP2) helps organisations to understand the impact of ACEs on young people’s wellbeing. We explore together where this understanding should shape their ways of working.
We will then find out what helping resource organisations themselves want, in discussion with young people who use their setting or service, to become more trauma-informed. We will co-produce this resource.
Next is a testing phase. Organisations will implement the resource for 6 months. We will evaluate how it went. We will share learning across organisations to keep improving the resource before sharing it widely.
What we are trying to learn
Co-production means producing something together. It breaks down the idea that any one person has the best solution.
How are we going to do this?
Starting in Autumn 2023 we will hold a package of 4 co-production workshops in each of the following regions: Falmouth, Leeds and Kent.
Public sector organisations and settings who routinely encounter young people (10-24yrs), and who want to become more trauma-informed, will be invited to the workshops.
Young people from those organisations will join them in our co-production workshops.
Together we will reflect on the WP1 and WP2 data, what this means for each setting, and what it means for each setting to become more trauma-informed in response.
We have co-produced a resource to help organisations become more trauma informed called ‘Validating Voices’. This will be tested by the organisations for 6 months and together we will evaluate how it went and what we can learn from this for future development of the resource.
Key reviews and papers into adverse child experiences (ACEs) and the importance of Trauma-Informed approaches
Research into ACEs is crucial. ACEs includes but are not limited to experiences such as abuse, neglect, and other major stressors such as divorce, a parent’s substance abuse, or witnessing violence in the home. ACEs can increase the risk of physical and mental health problems but they do not have to lead to physical and mental health problems. When children feel supported, cared for and secure in addition to positive lifestyle factors such eating healthy food, getting regular exercise, getting a good night’s sleep, practicing mindfulness, and getting mental health support when needed, these can help turn the stress response down and can reduce the potential negative impact of ACEs.
Trauma-informed approaches have become increasingly cited in policy, and in public and health settings as a way of reducing the negative impact of ACEs and supporting mental and physical health outcomes. There are 6 principles of trauma-informed practice: safety, trust, choice, collaboration, empowerment and cultural consideration. Within our work across the ATTUNE project we embed these principles. There has been research conducted which has shown the positive impact that trauma -informed approaches can have in public sector settings; such as schools and in health settings. A study by Kataoka and colleagues (2018) identified that a tailored trauma-informed approach can be implemented by using the systems and processes already implemented in the school and building upon these to ensure that the resources developed are feasible, and sustainable for each school. Within this paper they acknowledged that workforce training is integral to a trauma-informed approach. This work package (3) of ATTUNE is focused on developing, and working with organisations so that organisations are trauma informed. It is hoped that there will be a tangible public health resource created after the completion of WP3.
Bhui, K., & Butcher, I. (2023). The trouble with trauma and triggering. The Lancet Psychiatry.
Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V., . . . Marks, J. S. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults. The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study. Am J Prev Med, 14(4), 245-258.
Kataoka, S. H., Vona, P., Acuna, A., Jaycox, L., Escudero, P., Rojas, C., ... & Stein, B. D. (2018). Applying a trauma informed school systems approach: Examples from school community-academic partnerships. Ethnicity & disease, 28(Suppl 2), 417.
Purewal Boparai, S. K., Au, V., Koita, K., Oh, D. L., Briner, S., Burke Harris, N., & Bucci, M. (2018). Ameliorating the biological impacts of childhood adversity: A review of intervention programs. Child Abuse Negl, 81, 82-105. doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2018.04.014
Thomas, M. S., Crosby, S., & Vanderhaar, J. (2019). Trauma-informed practices in schools across two decades: An interdisciplinary review of research. Review of Research in Education, 43(1), 422-452.
Tunno, A. M., Inscoe, A. B., Goldston, D. B., & Asarnow, J. R. (2021). A trauma-informed approach to youth suicide prevention and intervention. Evidence-Based Practice in Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 6(3), 316-327.
Working definition of trauma-informed practice - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
To find out more or get involved
Are you between 10-24 years old and have lived through very difficult times as a child? Could you help us in our workshops in Falmouth, Leeds or Kent? We would love to hear from you. You get paid for your time and we will help you get settled into the project. Please use the Contact Us form to find out more.
Are you a public sector setting, organisation or service based near Falmouth, Leeds or Kent? Are you interested in becoming more trauma-informed? To join our study, please connect with us on the Contact Us page.