A powerful movement is well under way in Scotland. Over the previous year, the Scottish Government have outlined plans to support the progression towards being the first ACE-Aware Nation. Crucially, the movement is gathering more and more momentum at a grassroots level. In September, at a seminal conference at the Glasgow SECC (aceawarescotland.com), Key Note Speaker Dr Nadine Burke Harris outlined the importance of this by declaring that every person has a role to play, regardless of job or role in society, skill, experience or qualifications, and that every person can start their journey to becoming aware of the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences now - from wherever you are.
One of the key components in the journey to becoming ACEs aware or trauma informed is workforce development. Whether you work in education or healthcare or sports or accounting or retail, learning how to improve your health and wellbeing by self care is not only important for your own mental and physical health but it can have a significant impact on how you relate to and understand others. And not only will your team be more compassionate, but the results will be obvious, whatever your goals are.
Building a trauma informed workforce:
A trauma informed workforce does not only apply to those working directly with clients, patients or pupils that have experienced trauma, it applies to every member of any team or organisation, irrespective of roles and it is not only about caring for those you meet and work with, but for your colleagues and for yourself. The first step to becoming trauma informed is to develop self awareness, knowledge and understanding and practical tools required to improve self care, which includes feeling confident, mentally and physically skilled and able to perform at work. Once you are able to manage your self care, you are then in a position to work more effectively with colleagues and to deliver a trauma informed service to clients, patients, pupils or customers - if indeed you have any.
The results will be clear and obvious. Relationships between staff will be even stronger, stress levels will be reduced, health and wellbeing will be improved and any service that you deliver will be improved.
You can find more information about the NowCounselling training workshops, individual and group coaching, mentoring and supervision services that can help you and your colleagues become trauma informed on this website, and please feel free to get in touch for more information or to discuss a bespoke piece of work.