The Trauma Informed journey

In August 2018, the SBNI commissioned Queens University Belfast to complete an evidence review of the literature and practice of trauma informed care.

Within the evidence review it refers to the set of key core components of service culture, design and delivery that help practitioners and organisations to design responsive, holistic and effective systems of care.

A full evidence review is available alongside several sector specific trauma informed research documents from health and mental health, social care, child welfare, justice and education perspectives. An updated review has been commissioned which will likely be published late summer 2023.

The SBNI Strategic Plan 2022-2026 sets the direction for the next 4 years in which SBNI commits to building on its work and embed a trauma informed approach to underpin all of its work to safeguard children and young people. This work is being taken forward by a newly formed Trauma Informed Practice (TIP) Committee. There are currently two TIP implementation managers who will continue to support member and partner agencies to embed a sustainable transformation model of Trauma Informed Practice building on existing knowledge of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma Informed Practice.

The organisations that have representation on the TIP committee include; HSC Trusts, Education Authority (schools & youth service), PSNI, PHA, SPPG, Probation, Youth Justice Agency, Councils, NIGALA, and the Community and Voluntary sector.

The committee acknowledges that recognising and responding to the imprints of childhood adversity and trauma, will remain an integral part of achieving best practice and implementing  trauma informed organisations and communities across Northern Ireland. We recognise that trauma informed practice can only happen in the context of trauma informed and responsive environments, policies, systems and organisations. The TIP committee meet on a quarterly basis. For further information please  contact our implementation managers. 

The Implementation managers continue to support organisations to infuse the SAMHSA principles and domains utilising trauma informed sequential intercept / universal service delivery model (USD) approach to support organisational development and service improvement structures across the system. To find out more about how the Sequential Intercept and Universal Service Delivery Models allow us to understand how we could enhance the trauma informed approaches our services , download the research paper; QUB Applying a Sequential Intercept Model to the Northern Ireland Context (2019)  

To read the Insight report on systems change readiness click below.

https://www.safeguardingni.org/resources/eitp-trauma-informed-practice-…

Contact the SBNI EITP Trauma Informed Practice Project Team to find out how the key components of trauma informed practice identified within the reports are being implemented across the sectors in Northern Ireland.

Since 2017, a Government Forum for the ACE agenda continues to develop. This forum intially brought together 3 nations (England, Scotland and Wales) however it  has expanded to enable a further 2 other nations including Northern Ireland to be represented on what is now known as the 5 Nations Government ACE Forum. This forum invites colleagues from Scotland, England, Wales, and the Republic of Ireland to be a part of the ACE conversation.

This forum provides a space for sharing good practice and ensuring a common ACE and Trauma Informed language across the nations.

The third annual ACE Conference was held on in March 2020 and brought together 136 delegates in the Hilton Hotel, Templepatrick, to share learning from the journey so far, hear examples of best practice happening elsewhere, and explore the next steps to lead a Trauma Informed System into the New Decade. 

The aims of the conference were to

• Provide an understanding of the concept of collective leadership and a collaborative approach in response to trauma informed transformation of organisations 
• Provide attendees with an understanding of the cost of late intervention responses within our services to address trauma 
• Provide attendees with an understanding of the opportunity of working systemically to address trauma resulting from childhood adversity
• Provide attendees with an understanding of what trauma informed practice at an organisational level means, beyond training and awareness raising 
• Explore with attendees the next steps to lead a trauma informed system into the New Decade

The conference was joined by several keynote speakers including; Education Minister for Northern Ireland, Peter Weir, Chair of the Northern Ireland ACE Reference Group, Paul Morgan (SHSCT), Professor Mark Bellis from Public Health Wales, Professor Mandy Davis from Trauma Informed Oregon and Author and inspirational speaker James Kerr. A representative sample of senior leaders from across health, social care, justice, education, housing, the faith sector and the community and voluntary sector also joined the conference to share their personal and organisational leadership journeys contributing to a trauma informed Northern Ireland. 

The conference video below provides a summary of the conference achievements and the trauma informed systemic journey that many organisations have collectively made in Northern Ireland.

The presentations from the NI ACE Conference 2020 can be accessed through the links below

The full conference report is also available for download.