Building a trauma-responsive region
Understanding trauma and its impact on people's lives is essential to creating safer, healthier communities.
Since its launch, Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership’s Trauma Informed Practice Training (TIPT) programme has helped build a shared understanding of trauma across public services, education, community organisations and the voluntary sector.
Over the past two and a half years, 12,089 professionals have completed trauma informed training, equipping staff with the knowledge and confidence to recognise the impact of trauma, respond more effectively to vulnerability, and support better outcomes for the people they serve.
The programme reached organisations of all sizes, including many smaller community and third sector groups that may otherwise have struggled to access specialist training. Demand remained consistently high, with courses regularly reaching capacity and demonstrating the growing commitment across Merseyside to trauma informed ways of working.
Being trauma informed requires an understanding that different life experiences shape the options available to us and our way of being and can use this understanding to influence our interactions and decisions in work and daily life.
What we’ve achieved
Over four sessions, our free Trauma Informed Awareness training was designed to support professionals from across Merseyside’s public services to understand the Neuroscience of how individuals learn and develop, empowering staff to meet the needs of our communities.
Through this training we have:
- Trained more than 12,000 professionals across Merseyside.
- Increased awareness and understanding of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), trauma and resilience.
- Supported organisations to improve interactions with children, young people and adults who have experienced trauma.
- Encouraged more compassionate, effective and person-centred approaches across services.
- Created a strong foundation for long-term culture change across the region.
This work has contributed to a growing network of practitioners and leaders who understand the importance of recognising trauma and avoiding practices that can unintentionally re-traumatise individuals.
Find out more about the six principles which were at the core of our Trauma Informed Training
Building a trama responsive region
While the Trauma Informed Practice Training programme has now concluded, its legacy continues.
The next phase of our work focuses on building a Trauma Responsive Merseyside: moving beyond awareness and training towards lasting organisational and system-wide change.
Becoming trauma responsive means embedding trauma informed principles into policies, processes, leadership, service design and everyday practice. It is about ensuring that organisations not only understand trauma, but are equipped to respond in ways that promote safety, trust, collaboration and recovery.
What’s next?
Over the year ahead, the MVRP will deliver Trauma Responsive Curiosity Champion Webinars across all five boroughs of Merseyside.
These sessions will support organisations to:
- Reflect on current practice and identify opportunities for improvement.
- Strengthen trauma responsive leadership and culture.
- Embed trauma responsive principles at every level of their organisation.
- Share learning, best practice and innovation across sectors.
- Develop practical solutions that improve experiences for individuals navigating multiple services.
Collaboration will remain at the heart of this work, bringing together partners from across public services, education, health, policing, local authorities and the voluntary sector to create sustainable change.
Supporting sustainable change
To support this next stage of development, MVRP will continue working with organisations and practitioners across the region to build momentum and embed trauma responsive approaches.
This will include specialist support, evidence-based guidance, and strategic leadership to help organisations translate learning into meaningful action. The programme will also benefit from the involvement of a highly experienced international trauma specialist, helping ensure trauma responsive practice is consistently developed, embedded and sustained across Merseyside.
With an estimated 108,920 people working across Merseyside’s public service landscape, alongside thousands more in education, health and policing, there remains a significant opportunity to strengthen trauma responsive practice and improve outcomes for communities across the region.
Our vision
The foundations have been built. The next phase is about creating lasting systems change that improves wellbeing, strengthens resilience and delivers better outcomes for everyone.
To create a Trauma Responsive Merseyside where individuals, families and communities are supported by services that understand trauma, respond with compassion, and help people thrive.
