NHS Education for Scotland, which is delivering the Scottish Government’s National Trauma Training Programme, has asked senior leaders across Scotland to commit to trauma informed care and practice through a ‘Leadership Pledge of Support’.

Staf CEO Jo Derrick has signed the pledge and signalled our commitment to supporting our member organisations to meet the pledge too. This is just the latest step on Staf’s journey to supporting all of those involved in the lives of young people leaving care to deliver trauma informed and responsive care.

Staf wants to encourage all Staf members to join us in signing the pledge, you can do so too here.

Here’s what the pledge includes and some of the ways Staf is working to meet it.

We pledge to work with others to put trauma-informed and responsive practice in place across our workforce and services.

We support our members in the public, third and private sectors to develop trauma-informed and responsive practice through our programme of learning events, with experts in trauma from across the world. This has included events with Dr Karen Treisman on trauma informed organisational change and Tony Bloemendaal, a fellow of Dr Bruce Perry’s ChildTrauma Academy.

Find out about our previous conferences on trauma and relationships here.

We will deliver services that wherever possible are actively informed by people with lived experience of trauma.

Staf’s Project Return is also supporting care-experienced young people to develop new approaches to addressing unresolved trauma, including researching the role of pets in care; forming a choir; and exploring how nature can help improve wellbeing.

Find out more about Project Return here.

We will recognise the central importance of relationships that offer collaboration, choice, empowerment, safety and trust as part of a trauma-informed approach.

We know that relationships are the key to healing from trauma. That’s why we’ve been supporting young people and those who support them to co-produce a toolkit to promote relationship-based practice in leaving care services. The REAL Toolkit (Relationships, Empathy and Love) will be launched early next year.

Find out more about getting involved in the final phase of this project here.

We will respond in ways that prevent further harm, and that reduce barriers so that people affected by trauma have equal access to the services they need, when they need it, to support their own journey of recovery.

Finally, we’re collaborating with Aberlour, Kibble and Barnardo’s to deliver the Scottish Government’s trauma training pilot in partnership with Argyll and Bute Council. We’re delighted to be part of this transformational programme, which will undoubtedly lead to better services and support the national roll-out.

Your organisation can sign the pledge here.