It is the Scottish Government, COSLA and other partners’ ambition for Scotland to have trauma-informed and responsive services and workforces, and for everyone in Scotland’s workforce to receive training and support to understand the key role they have to play in responding to psychological trauma. Trauma is everyone’s business and all members of the Scottish workforce have a role to play in understanding and responding to people affected by trauma.
This doesn’t mean that everyone needs to be a trauma expert - we know that different expertise and skills are required to support people’s recovery – but instead that all workers, in the context of their own role and work remit, have a unique and essential trauma-informed role to play in responding to people who are affected by trauma.
This series of companion documents aims to support people working across different policy areas to strengthen their understanding of how taking a trauma-informed approach can support both improved outcomes for the people they support and staff wellbeing and safety. Professionals may also find it helpful to read other companion documents in this series to further understand the importance of trauma-informed practice across different policy and service areas, and how this interlinks with the people they support.
Domestic abuse and trauma-informed practice
The Improvement Service, in partnership with COSLA, the Scottish Government, NHS Education for Scotland and the Safe & Together Institute, has published a companion document to support all professionals working with women, children and young people affected by domestic abuse and those working with perpetrators to strengthen awareness and understanding about trauma-informed and domestic abuse-informed practice. The document provides context, key messages and practice-focused reflective questions to support professionals to work in a trauma-informed way that recognises the nature, prevalence and impact of domestic abuse. The document aims to strengthen understanding of how taking a domestic abuse- and trauma-informed approach can support improved outcomes for women, children and young people affected by domestic abuse and can support staff wellbeing and safety. Partner organisations including the Caledonian System, Community Justice Scotland, the National Violence Against Women Network, SafeLives and Scottish Women’s Aid have informed and endorsed this document.
Alcohol & drug use and trauma-informed practice
The Improvement Service, in partnership with COSLA, the Scottish Government and NHS Education for Scotland, has published a companion document to support all professionals working with people and their families affected by alcohol and drug use to strengthen awareness and understanding about trauma-informed practice. The document provides context, key messages and practice-focused reflective questions to support professionals to work in a trauma-informed way, that recognises the prevalence and impact of trauma for many people affected by alcohol and drug use. The document aims to strengthen understanding of how taking a trauma-informed approach can support improved outcomes for people and their families affected by alcohol and drug use and can support staff wellbeing and safety. This document has been produced in collaboration with partner organisations/ networks including LPASS, the MAT Implementation Programme, local multi-agency Alcohol & Drugs Partnerships and Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol & Drugs.
Mental health and trauma-informed practice
This document is designed to support all those in the workforce who are supporting people affected by mental health difficulties and aims to strengthen awareness and understanding of trauma-informed practice. The document provides context, key messages and practice-focused reflective questions to help people work in a trauma-informed way that recognises the nature, prevalence and impact of poor mental health and experiences of trauma.
Care experience and trauma-informed practice
With the right support at the right time, we know that each and every child who experiences trauma can recover and thrive. This document is for everyone who supports children and young people with experience of trauma. It has particular advice and guidance for those supporting children and young people with care experience - who may both need and benefit from trauma-informed practice. Many thanks to all of the individuals and organisations who contributed to developing this resource, ensuring this document has been shaped by the voices of expertise by experience and expertise by profession, including CELCIS, Each and Every Child, Education Scotland, local authority colleagues, The Promise and Who Cares? Scotland.
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