National Trauma Training Programme - local delivery trials: interim evaluation

The National Trauma Training Programme

Since June 2018, the Scottish Government (SG) has committed over £1.5 million to design and deliver a National Trauma Training Programme^[1] (NTTP), coordinated by NHS Education for Scotland (NES). The NTTP is comprised of the following core elements:

• a range of online resources (e-modules, webinars and animations)
• Scottish Trauma Informed Leaders Training (STILT) – a short face to face programme aimed at senior leaders
• Train the Trainers approach for future facilitators
• three Delivery Trial Sites testing the implementation of trauma training for priority public sector frontline workers in three local authority areas (Argyll and Bute, Glasgow and Midlothian) from Summer 2019.
• local training, supervision and coordination of Service Level Agreements or delivery (now in place within all 14 Health Boards to provide dedicated, locally based posts leading activity on a cross-sector basis).
• support for tailored training projects (e.g. within the Judicial Institute, the Joint Investigative Interview Team, Forensic Medical Examiners, Maternity Services, Services for CYP who are in /or at risk of being in the care system and high-volume delivery in the health and social care sector) and testing of routine enquiry approaches.

The NTTP builds on the NES “Transforming Psychological Trauma: A Knowledge and Skills Framework for the Scottish Workforce”^[2] (KSF) published in 2017 and a Trauma Training Plan for Scotland^[3] published in 2019. These documents and the NTTP provide guidance on trauma training to support all sectors of the workforce and outline the steps that can be undertaken within services to develop, commission and embed the use of high-quality trauma training to develop their workers’ trauma related knowledge and skills. The overall long-term aim of the NTTP is to develop and support a consistent, highly skilled, trauma-informed workforce across all frontline services.

To be trauma informed, workforces need to be aware of the impact of trauma, recognise those who are (or have been) exposed to trauma and perceive and reduce barriers to service engagement for people who are trauma experienced. In addition, a trauma informed workforce should be trained to provide support appropriate to their roles and tailored to those in need of their services. The NTTP^1,2 identified four progressively specialised levels of Trauma Informed Practice (TIP). These are illustrated in Figure 1.

People with lived experience report that the most important factor impacting upon their capacity to seek and receive care, support or interventions is having a trusting relationship with a worker¹. A trauma informed organisation is one that has embedded an understanding of the impact of trauma into all aspects of its service delivery, and one whose culture reflects each of the values of safety, choice, trust, collaboration, empowerment in each contact, physical setting, relationship and activity. This culture should also be evidenced in the treatment and experiences of the organisation’s staff¹.