7 - North Ayrshire - Being Trauma Informed and Responsive
North Ayrshire Council · 27 August 2024
Back to Cabinet — 27 August 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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NORTH AYRSHIRE COUNCIL 27 August 2024 Cabinet Title: North Ayrshire - Being Trauma Informed and Responsive Purpose: To update Cabinet in relation to ongoing work to develop our approach and response to trauma. Recommendation: Cabinet are asked to endorse the progress being made to strengthen our trauma informed approach in North Ayrshire. 1. Executive Summary 1.1 This paper provides Cabinet with an overview of current activity in relation to the trauma informed agenda. Following a report presented to Council in June 2019, the Council agreed a motion on 1st November 2023 to receive updates on progress on how the Council and wider CPP partners were progressing the ambition to reduce childhood abuse and trauma in local communities and embed a trauma-informed approach across services. 1.2 This paper describes specific pieces of work that are currently being progressed and it will also detail the short medium and long-term plans to further build on the Trauma Informed approach across council services. 1.3 A trauma informed and responsive organisation should have in place systems and practices where the impact of trauma is understood by staff, where policies, processes and service design have a trauma responsive approach embedded within them and ways of working are adapted accordingly for both staff and the communities that they serve. 2. Background 2.1 The Scottish Government defines trauma-informed practice as a way of working with people that recognises the impact traumatic experiences may have had on them and aims to avoid causing further trauma. This approach is based on five core principles: 1. Safety: Helping people feel physically and emotionally safe. 2. Choice: Giving people meaningful choices and a voice in decisions that affect them. 3. Collaboration: Involving people in considering how their needs can be met.
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4. Trust: Being clear so that people know what to expect and doing what you say you will. 5. Empowerment: Validating people’s feelings and supporting them to make decisions. This practice is designed to support recovery, do no harm and recognise and support people’s resilience. 2.2 The Scottish Government and COSLA have a shared ambition for a trauma-informed workforce across Scotland, which can help support children, young people and adults affected by psychological trauma by reducing barriers to accessing general services, preventing any further harm and supporting recovery. To enhance the delivery of training and support on offer from NHS Education for Scotland (NES), and through the allocation of funding to local authorities from the Scottish Government the HSCP in North Ayrshire have employed a designated Trauma Informed Practice Adviser (for 3 years) who commenced in post in Spring 2024. 2.3 Various papers and professional contributions to Council and IJB over the last two years have made reference to ethical stress. Another key issue often referred to is the issue of long term staff absence and observations on workforce sufficiency. Both these issues have vicarious trauma as a significant contributory factor. 2.4 Vicarious trauma is the emotional residue of exposure to traumatic stories and experiences of others through work; witnessing fear, pain, and terror that others have experienced on a daily basis. This can manifest in a number of ways but critically includes practitioners becoming overly involved emotionally, experiencing bystander guilt, shame, feelings of self-doubt and being preoccupied with thoughts of clients outside of the work situation. The CSSP has allocated funding from the Whole Family Wellbeing Fund to commission a support service providing vicarious trauma support and specialist counselling for staff, this is available for any staff within Children and Families services, Education and Communities teams with consideration of the third sector and wider CPP partners. 2.5 The further development of our trauma sensitive approaches to practice will aim to not only support the practitioner / client relationship but also support the practitioner / organisation relationship. 2.6 The trauma informed practice advisor will work alongside committee teams including the Child Protection and Adult Support and Protection committees to ensure that the Trauma Principles, use of language are threaded throughout everyday practice. In particular this will support ongoing practice themes including work around “The Promise” and “Signs of Safety” in children’s services and in our approaches to supporting those who are experiencing critical mental health issues. 2.7 We know from research that living through a traumatic event is more common than previously realised. Preventing and effectively responding to trauma and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is essential for Scotland’s National Performance Framework’s ambition of increasing wellbeing, creating opportunities to flourish and improving outcomes for people and communities.
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2.8 A Roadmap for Creating Trauma Informed and Responsive Change was published by the National Trauma Transformation Programme along with COSLA and Scottish Government in August 2023. The purpose of this roadmap is to highlight the different components of a trauma informed and responsive approach and what this looks like within an organisation. 2.9 A trauma informed and responsive organisation should have in place systems and practices where the impact of trauma is understood by staff, where policies, processes and service design have a trauma responsive approach embedded within them and ways of working are adapted accordingly for both staff and the communities that they serve. 2.10 Being trauma informed is also woven into the Psychological Therapies and Interventions National Specification published in September 2023 and is endorsed, or core, among a growing number of policies and standards which sit across health and social care, for example as part of the Medication Assisted Treatment Standards for supporting people with addictions. The Director of Psychological Services for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, and as part of the North Ayrshire HSCP, is further developing the approach in NHS Ayrshire and Arran and for the HSCP to further strengthen trauma informed practice, by bringing together capacity and learning from across Ayrshire and Arran. 3. Proposals 3.1 Short Term (First Year) It is proposed in the short term that the focus will be around the delivery of Trauma Informed training across the Council and the HSCP commencing in Autumn 2024. This will be centred around different levels of training which will be aimed at the appropriate roles of staff members within the council and HSCP. The training will include: • Level 1 Trauma Informed Awareness, this will be Mandatory and available through the I-Learn platform • Level 2 Trauma Skills • Level 3 Trauma Skills (Enhanced) • Psychological First Aid It is anticipated that all staff council wide will undertake Level 1 Awareness training as a minimum requirement, and this will be refreshed annually. It is anticipated that with the introduction of Level 1 Trauma Awareness Training which will be mandatory training council wide we will be able to introduce the principles of trauma informed and responsive practice to the NAC workforce with the requirement staff members annually refresh their knowledge in this area. It is also estimated that an additional 1,000 HSCP staff members also access Level 2 Trauma Skilled Training within the first year of training implementation. Additionally in the short term the Trauma Informed Practice Advisor will develop and deliver sessions to HSCP staff around specific areas of practice including children and young people, dementia care and mental health.
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Following the offer of a variety training there will be the opportunity for staff members to complete the Professional Development Award in Approaches to Trauma Informed Practice and ongoing reflective activities and discussions which will enhance the practice of staff members including Newly Qualified Social Workers. 3.2 Medium Term (Second Year) Whilst the suite of training opportunities will continue to be delivered on an ongoing basis it is envisaged that in the NAHSCP that a network of Trauma Champions is established to promote and guide work on trauma within services. Create greater opportunities for power sharing with people who have lived experience of trauma. Improve and embed feedback loops for effective continuous improvement. Our commitment to Trauma Informed Leadership will also include that all managers attend STILT training (Scottish Trauma Informed Leaders Training) ensuring a strategic approach to embedding the trauma approach. 3.3 Long Term (Third Year) The long-term approach will include taking a trauma informed lens to policies, processes and service design and delivery whilst taking cognisance of other existing and emerging themes. This will include the use of language and an awareness around environments for those who are accessing services. Create staff lived experience working groups to look at service improvement and to work with HR colleagues to develop individual staff wellbeing plans and how these can be formalised as part of all contracts and supervision. 3.4 In September 2023 the NAHSCP launched a five-year Learning and Development Strategy (Social Work & Social Care) “Be The Best You Can Be” which encompassed the offer to the workforce around the theme of Trauma Informed Practice. The revised version of the strategy to be issued in the Autumn will outline the short, medium and long term training and development plans in detail. Anticipated Outcomes 3.5 With the training on offer it is more likely that staff will become more competent and confident to report an increased understanding of the prevalence and impact of trauma on themselves and the people and communities that they serve. A trained competent trauma informed workforce is also more likely to report feeling confident, supported and empowered to translate knowledge and skills into practice changes whilst leaders at all levels are more likely to understand, drive and inspire a trauma-informed approach across their sphere of influence. Staff are more likely to report that their wellbeing is valued and prioritised and that they have time and space to access relevant proactive and reactive development opportunities in line with NAHSCP Learning and Development Strategy 2023/28.
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With the delivery of a short, medium and long-term plan which will seek to embed a trauma informed responsive practice this means people with lived experience of trauma are more likely to experience services and systems that consistently offer choice, trust, safety, collaboration and empowerment. People with lived experience of trauma are more likely to report that services and systems proactively welcome feedback about their experiences to support continuous improvement and people with lived experience of trauma are more likely to report having positive experiences of engaging with services and systems. Services and systems will also be created and delivered with an understanding of trauma as an essential element of their design. Measuring Impact 3.6 Building on the approach to be being a trauma informed and responsive organisation will be reflected in the workforce demonstrating an embedded approach towards working with people who have or may be affected by trauma. This will be measured by evaluating knowledge at the post training stage. This will be continued by supporting HSCP services with the guidance from The National Improvement Service to implement suggested evaluation tools which will create feedback loops. This includes the “Taking a Trauma Informed Lens Walk Through” which will inform how Trauma Informed Practice is being implemented and received. 4. Implications/Socio-economic Duty Financial 4.1 Funding has been provided by the Scottish Government to support the employment of a dedicated post, Human Resources 4.2 None Legal 4.3 None Equality/Socio-economic 4.4 None Climate Change and Carbon 4.5 None
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Key Priorities 4.6 The development of trauma informed practice delivers against the HSCP strategic plan. There is increased focus and recognition of the impact of trauma on our communities with this recognised more and more within national and local strategies, policies and initiatives. Community Wealth Building 4.7 None 5. Consultation 5.1 The development of the approach described has been developed in partnership with front line services Caroline Cameron Director of Health & Social Care - North Ayrshire Partnership / Chief Officer For further information please contact Lesley Higgins, Service Manager Practice Standards , on 07931 815 204 Background Papers 0