Special Report: Trauma-Informed Care

Over the past 20 years, trauma-informed approaches have become increasingly popular as a means for reducing the negative impact of childhood adversities and supporting child and adult mental health outcomes.

These approaches are informed by a set of principles that recognise that experiences of trauma are prevalent and can negatively impact the daily functioning of many individuals.

However, evidence suggests there is inconsistent implementation of these principles that has led to variability in practice. There is also little evidence showing that trauma-informed care improves access to therapeutic interventions or better outcomes.

Despite this, children’s services departments and a wide range of agencies that have contact with disadvantaged and vulnerable families have trained their workforce in trauma-informed practice techniques, with some areas rolling out training across all local authority employees.

While trauma-informed practice has been a feature of children’s residential care for decades it is now becoming more widely used to engage children and families in youth justice, education and early help as a way of reducing negative outcomes.

CYP Now’s special report on trauma-informed care (TIC) summarises developments in its use and the evidence base, highlights examples of how it is being used in a variety if settings, while experts debate whether a more standardised definition would deliver better outcomes.

Read more in CYP Now's trauma-informed care special report:

• Key policy developments

• The Big Debate: Would consistent application of trauma-informed care benefit children’s services?

• Training: Making Islington Council trauma informed

Practice examples:

• Strengthening carer relationships through trauma-informed arts

• Trauma-informed practice in residential child care settings

• Trauma-informed approach helps vulnerable mothers in Oxfordshire

• Using TIC approaches to support young people affected by conflict