Swansea Trauma Informed Practice

We were delighted to be commissioned once again by Swansea Council to deliver a Trauma Informed Practice Training programme with courses delivered virtually over a 4 week period for 2.5 hours a week.  The training was to a multiagency group which included roles such as Practice leads, Social Workers, Early Help Practitioners, Outdoor Activities Managers and Independent Reviewing Officers. 

The course covered:

• What it means to be Trauma Informed, from realising all the different types of trauma and considering equally, both the people who staff the services as well as the people who use the services.
• How we might recognise trauma behaviours and symptoms in people of all ages, considering, in depth, how our own nervous system regulation can impact on the regulation of another person’s nervous system.  We also tried and tested many grounding techniques for staff to use in their day to day work, and had some fun in the process.
• How people recover from trauma, what they need, how might we recognise what stage they are at and how we can focus on where to place our energies and resources to meet someone where they are, right now.
• Building resilience in ourselves and the children and families we work with.  The importance of reflective practice, our supervision processes and what it takes to work in a field where we are immersed in the stress and trauma of others.  We had many discussions around what support is required from organisations as well as our own personal responsibilities in maintain good, healthy personal practices.  We finished on a discussion around “endings” and how important it is to have a good, planned ending.  At the end of the course we shared a wealth of resources with signposting to other useful agencies, so that they staff may continue their learning in this ever changing dynamic field of learning.

Here is a selection of some of the excellent feedback that came from the participants of this course:

"I just wanted to also say that I'm really enjoying the training. It's deepening my understanding of my practice and my experiences. I've undertaken a lot of courses on the subject and you start to find a lot of repetition, but this is has been brilliant from many perspectives. It has impacted my future proposals, my team training materials, and even my personal life. It will certainly impact my future practice. So far it's been both a validating experience as well as a valuable learning opportunity. Amazing! Thank you".

"Thank you Suzi for excellent and valuable training x"

"Thank you very much, loved the training" 

"Thank you everyone. BIG thanks Suzi x "

 "Thanks so much suzi for this. you’ve been brilliant!"