What Trauma Informed Practice Training Covers

If you are looking for Trauma informed practice training, see tidaltraining.co.uk/mental-health-training-courses/trauma-informed-practice-training/.

Table of Contents

Understanding Trauma and the Brain

First we explore in more depth what is meant by the term trauma, and how it affects people’s behaviour. We look at how the nervous system is designed to respond to threat, and how as a result of being exposed to trauma a person may come across as withdrawn, aggressive or concentrating only on the present moment. We also look at post-traumatic stress and the wide range of effects that people can experience following a traumatic event, as described in NICE guidelines.

The Five Core Principles

A Trauma-informed practice training covers the 5 core principles that underpin how a service is delivered and designed. These are Safety, Trustworthiness, Choice, Collaboration and Empowerment and how you can apply these when having conversations with service users and setting up a structure or expectations and sharing information.

Spotting Trauma Responses in Others

The training program includes an in-depth section on the ways in which people’s recent behaviour could be a result of past trauma and an introduction to the following trauma responses: emotional dysregulation, avoidance, and hypervigilance. This section provides participants with an increased ability to distinguish between difficult behaviour and a person who is currently experiencing distress.

Adjusting How You Communicate

You will work through how to change the way you communicate with service users and others by making small changes to the language that you use, the way in which you deliver that language, the pitch and the pace at which you deliver that language. So for example, ensure that you deliver information on a gradual basis, and do not place people under sudden demand, and that where possible you provide people with a choice rather than telling them how you want them to do something.

Boundaries and Practitioner Wellbeing

The training will also cover how working with people who have experienced trauma can have a negative impact on the practitioner themselves, including the risk of vicarious trauma, and how to ensure that they maintain clear professional boundaries without becoming detached from the people they are trying to support.