Trauma-informed practice: toolkit

Foreword

We know that trauma can affect any one of us at any time, but the Covid-19 pandemic has significantly increased and exacerbated both the risk and the impact of trauma, particularly for people already affected by inequalities and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES).

Together, we have an opportunity to transform how we understand and respond to trauma in Scotland and we can start by taking a trauma-informed lens to everything we do. We want a Scotland where people are not blamed or punished for adverse experiences which are beyond their control, where a survivor is not made to feel shame or stigma for the trauma they have suffered. We want a culture where people experience empathy and kindness and are empowered to access the services they need to help support their recovery, and to build or strengthen trusting relationships with others.

Preventing and mitigating the impact of trauma and support for recovery is part of our fundamental human rights and I am proud that Scotland is set to become the first nation in the UK to embed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into domestic law. This builds on the solid foundations that have already been built up over a number of years through the principles of Getting It Right for Every Child, a rights-based approach and one that firmly recognises the strength of relationships and human connections.

The Scottish Government's ambition, shared by COSLA and partners, is for a trauma informed workforce and services across Scotland. We have already invested over £1.5 million in our National Trauma Training Programme, led by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) and have made a commitment to extend this Programme for a further two years to support our workforce in developing a long-term, trauma informed approach to recovery from the pandemic.

This Trauma Informed Practice Toolkit has been developed to further support that ambition by providing our workforce with clear, tangible examples of where trauma informed practice has been successfully embedded across different sectors of the workforce and how that learning can be applied in a range of contexts. I would encourage you to use this Toolkit to help spark ideas and conversations within your own service or organisation as we continue to work together, to drive forward progress across professional boundaries, to enable the transformational change in our society that we all want to see.

Thank you

Clare Haughey

Minister for Mental Health