Applying a Trauma Informed Approach

Providing effective services for people who have experienced trauma has been difficult for both practitioners and service users. This has required organisations to consider whether existing systems of care and models of service delivery are indeed effective in supporting trauma survivors or re traumatising.

The current political climate, with cuts to funding and increased pressure on resources, coupled with traumatised clients, has resulted in many traumatised service systems and individual workers. Workers and service systems experience similar levels of dysregulation, powerlessness and threats to safety that the trauma survivors do. This parallel makes the task of working in a trauma informed way challenging.

Most human beings will experience at least one traumatic event throughout their life. With the appropriate level of support and resourcing, some people describe an experience of growth, or Post Traumatic Resilience following the event. When traumatic events are frequent, ongoing and generated interpersonally (complex trauma), the consequences may be debilitating, including consequences on physical and mental well -being. Where traumatic events of this nature occur in childhood, the impacts on development, particular the development of attachment security, can result in a multitude of consequences for the survivor. Some of these consequences include a lack of self -regulatory skills and relational capacities. Dysregulation and lack of safety become every day experiences.

This one day workshop will provide an overview of the impacts of trauma on a variety of aspects of development and functioning. Strategies that support a trauma informed approach at an individual and systemic level will be explored to ensure that workers are able to be operating in a manner that support post traumatic growth.

The participants will have the opportunity to:

• Consider and explore the importance of a systemic approach to trauma informed practice
• Discuss a variety of impacts of trauma on development, neurobiology, relational capacity, memory and self-regulatory skills
• Discuss key principles of Trauma Informed Practice and develop relevant strategies for incorporating these principles into current workplace practice
• Identify ways that re-traumatisation may be avoided in the context of your workplace
• Understand the critical need for safety for both clients and staff and discuss strategies for implementing
• Consider the importance of relationship for fostering recovery and ways to incorporate this aspect into all interactions with service users

Who should attend?

Open