Trauma Informal Practice

What you'll learn

• Define acute, chronic, and complex trauma, and explain their impact on health, behaviour, and development.
• Identify common causes of trauma, including abuse, neglect, displacement, and institutional harm within UK and Irish contexts.
• Recognise trauma responses such as fight, flight, freeze, and fawn, and interpret these behaviours through a trauma-informed lens.
• Apply the six core principles of trauma-informed practice—safety, trustworthiness, peer support, collaboration, empowerment, and cultural awareness—in
• Communicate with service users using active listening, validation, and trauma-sensitive language to build trust and reduce re-traumatisation.
• Manage trauma disclosures sensitively and ethically, maintaining boundaries and safeguarding responsibilities.
• Design and maintain trauma-informed physical environments that support emotional safety, accessibility, and inclusion.
• Reflect on personal responses to trauma-related work, recognise signs of burnout and compassion fatigue, and implement effective self-care strategies.
• Understand and utilise reflective practice and supervision to support professional wellbeing and emotional regulation.
• Foster vicarious resilience by recognising and drawing strength from the recovery journeys of individuals they support.