Overview

As part of a public health-funded programme, a specialist charity was commissioned to support wider adoption of trauma-informed practice across charities and public sector organisations working with vulnerable women.

Recognised for its innovative and deeply trauma-informed approach to supporting women experiencing multiple disadvantage, the charity was tasked with developing and delivering a training programme that could be shared with organisations including local authorities, policing, and voluntary sector services.

The engagement focused on ensuring the programme was grounded in both contemporary evidence and lived experience, creating a practical framework that organisations could apply within their own services.

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The Challenge

Trauma-informed practice is often reduced to a set of principles or policies, despite growing evidence that meaningful implementation requires changes to organisational culture, service design and everyday interactions.

The programme needed to balance three distinct perspectives:

• contemporary research into trauma, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and trauma-informed practice

• the operational expertise of practitioners working with women experiencing multiple disadvantage

• the lived experiences of women accessing these services

The objective was to develop a training programme that was both evidence-based and grounded in the realities of the people it was intended to support.

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Approach

The engagement combined literature review, stakeholder engagement and co-production to develop the training programme.

Current academic research on trauma, ACEs and trauma-informed practice was reviewed alongside existing policy and public health guidance to establish an evidence base.

This was complemented by structured consultation with women accessing specialist support services, ensuring that lived experience informed both the content and delivery of the programme. Rather than treating service users as participants, the process positioned them as lead contributors to the design of the training itself.

Insights from research, frontline practice and lived experience were synthesised into a practical training programme that was subsequently co-delivered to charities and public sector organisations across a UK city.

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Key Deliverables

• Evidence review on trauma, ACEs and trauma-informed practice.

• Lived experience consultation with women accessing specialist services.

• Co-production of a trauma-informed training programme.

• Workshop design and facilitation.

• Training delivery to voluntary and public sector organisations.

• Strategic recommendations for embedding trauma-informed practice within organisational settings.

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Outcome

The programme provided organisations with a deeper understanding of trauma-informed practice that extended beyond awareness raising to practical implementation.

By integrating academic evidence with practitioner expertise and lived experience, the training offered a more authentic and actionable approach to organisational change, supporting charities and public sector organisations to better understand the experiences of the women they worked alongside and adapt services accordingly.

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Services Provided

• Co-production

• Evidence Synthesis

• Public Health Research

• Workshop Design

• Stakeholder Engagement

• Lived Experience Consultation

• Training Development

• Facilitation

• Strategy Development