Connecting people, places and organisations to develop a whole system approach to trauma-informed knowledge and skills into practice and culture change.
Supporting people, services and organisations to become more trauma-informed is not a one-size- fits-all approach. The way that one service becomes trauma-informed may be very different to another service and depends on several factors. Examples of these factors include for core business/focus of the service, community context, resources, individual skill mix, service and local priorities, management and leadership structures etc.
Supporting services on their trauma informed journey therefore requires focus just as much on the ‘how’ as the ‘what’. This includes exploring how service contexts, strategy and leadership can support embedding trauma-informed knowledge and skills to create behavioural/practice and cultural change. One of the core principles of the Trauma-Informed Wales framework highlights the need to be strengths and resilience focused. Therefore, a key area for consideration is how trauma-informed approaches may align with the existing knowledge, skills and training of staff and services. For example, some staff members have received training in compassionate leadership approaches, so it would be important to reflect how these existing leadership skills fit with and support a trauma informed approach, instead of adding in more training in this area. Hence a more sophisticated and holistic approach than didactic training offers.
I joined ACE Hub Wales in April 2023 as the National Lead for Strategy, Skills, and Training. With a background as an Occupational Therapist (OT) and 12 years of experience in the NHS, my previous roles involved direct engagement with children, young people and families, leading to senior positions in children’s OT. My work has shown me the importance of providing the right support at the right time for children, young people, and families. I believe in creating trauma-informed, inclusive services that are developed collaboratively with those who access them.
Working at ACE Hub has been a rewarding experience, enabling me to contribute to the trauma-informed journey for Wales. I have seen firsthand how a trauma-informed approach can make a significant difference, which is why I am enthusiastic about participating in initiatives that connect practice areas to drive systemic change.
Dr Katie Brown (BSs (HONS), DCLINPSY) is Traumatic Stress Pathway Lead for Cwm Taff Morgannwg (CTM) UHB and a Clinical Psychologist.
Katie has worked within adult services throughout her career within the independent sector and NHS. The majority of Katie’s career has involved the delivery and development of trauma-informed, psychological ways of working within forensic services. More recently, she is enjoying working as Traumatic Stress Wales Lead for Cwm Taff Morgannwg University Health Board developing trauma-informed practice and the provision of efficient and streamlined pathways of support for individuals who have experienced trauma within the local area.
Katie has a longstanding interest in supporting individuals, teams and systems who have experienced trauma. Throughout her career, she has worked with individuals with severe and complex trauma, training in all the main evidence based interventions for trauma. She is passionate about promoting compassionate trauma-informed care driving quality improvement and fostering meaningful cultural change within organisations. She is excited to be co-leading the Knowledge and skills into Practice work stream connecting and working together to develop trauma-informed services that are co-owned, co-produced and inclusive giving every member of society the opportunity to grow and develop into their authentic selves.
10 core members of this working group currently and more will be identified.
Discussions have taken place on ‘into Practice’ element of the work, and how this is often more meaningful than the training element.
Plans to commission a piece of work to review literature and practice in Wales on achieving cultural shift to support implementation and practice focus.
Spotlight sessions in the National Implementation Steering Group have taken place in September 2024 and March 2025; presenting on the progress of the group so far.