Trauma Informed & Responsive Scotland💙

A space for those interested in the development of trauma informed and responsive practice and the creation of trauma informed environments. As ONE. DMs and replies are not actively monitored and we are not able to provide clinical care or therapy. Further info ⬇️

Keeping Trauma in Mind | The Knowledge and Skills Framework share.google/RTGAiAcI6JMmV1…

I can’t stop thinking about this show. Unflinching, uncomfortable, unforgettable. Crazy that the book festival does not have this on their programme. Go see for yourself.

EmilyTest are running the first ever Scotland only survey on gender-based violence (GBV) in tertiary education. If you are 18+ and a student, recent grad, or staff at a Scottish college or uni, please spare a few minutes to complete this survey. app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/edinburgh/ge…

In case you missed it - we recently published a literature review, aiming to assist those interested in developing Bairns' Hoose in Scotland and beyond. Written by Marianiki Vlachou, Viki Sebhelyi, and @AddyAdelaine , this review draws on international insights and good practice examples from across North America and Europe, including services that fully or partially adopt the Barnahus model and standards. Read the report here: cycj.org.uk/wp-content/upl…

We shall be live-tweeting all of our online conference events this month, so if you can't watch, you should be able to pick up the main points from our tweets.

Please, I beg, dial down the emotion & lurid testimony. These are no basis on which to make new law. Legislating matters of life & death couldn't be a more serious matter. They demand sober, objective, thoughtful scrutiny. Not sensationalist & frightening distortions. (8/n)

Join @acamh for "Assessing and understanding trauma" webinar on May 6, 2025! Dr. Saul Hillman, Richard Cross, and Katharine Anderson bridge research and practice in trauma assessment for looked-after children. #ACAMH #TraumaInformed bit.ly/4gHsfOh

Just home from presenting at the Royal College of General Practitioners (@rcgp)s 'managing addictions in primary care conference at the The Lowry Hotel in Manchester. My title was 'Trauma and Resilience Informed Practice - what it is, what it isn't and how it can change the world.' Thank you to the audience who were generous and attentive and who asked very thoughtful questions a the end. Thanks also to the people who came to talk to me after my session - its so appreciated to connect and to know what I presented resonated and provided a valuable perspective I hoped my messages would land but I'm delighted to discover there is a huge appetite for trauma and resilience informed approaches to helping people with the addiction. I'm especially pleased that my continued advocacy for routine and targeted enquiry about trauma and childhood adversity was so well received. My take home message was that we can't keep treating the symptoms and not addressing the cause - the origin of the pain. We have to ask in a sensitive way and create the conditions for someone to tell us their deepest darkest secrets and then respond in compassionate and validating way. Of course a bit of training helps but no one expects the person they disclose to to fix their problems instantly -  but by listening, accepting and validating we can facilitate a therapeutic opportunity - a catalyst for change. I finished with the words of Desmond Tutu as I often do, 'we have to stop just pulling people out of the river - we have to go upstream and find out why they are falling in…' Big thanks to Dr Stephen Willets and @RCGPlearning for inviting me and championing my contribution. Huge thank Jess and Kelly @addictionprofs who were brilliant conference organisers and were so professional #ManagingAddictions #PrimaryCare #ACEEnquiry #RCGPConference #TraumaInformedCare #TraumaInformedEducation #REAChModel #TraumaInformed #ResilienceInformed

Are autism and ADHD neurological conditions – and if they aren’t, what are they? My time line is full of people saying that their autism or ADHD is down to neurology. It seems to be something which many believe. Autism and ADHD are not considered to be neurological by doctors or health professionals. If they were, they’d be diagnosed by a neurologist. Neurologists are doctors who specialised in neurological conditions. Things like strokes, or brain injury, or brain tumours. Physical changes to the brain, which cause a wide range of problems for people. Those conditions are diagnosed by brain scans or other biological tests. Autism and ADHD are diagnosed by psychiatrists and psychologists – specialists in mental health and behaviour. That’s because they are not diagnosed by looking at your brain, and they aren’t defined by a particular issue in the brain. They are defined by a list of behavioural criteria. They are called ‘neurodevelopmental’ but that doesn’t mean the same as neurological. It just means, they are present throughout development. The word 'neurodiversity' also leads people to think that they are neurological, but neurodiversity does not mean the same thing as neurological. Many people think that autism and ADHD are neurological because there are some studies which have compared groups of autistic people with non-autistic people, which show differences in brain activation or structure. This isn’t the same as a neurological condition. Literally everything that we do is reflected in our brains. There is a famous set of studies with London taxi drivers who were learning ‘The Knowledge’ – detailed knowledge of London streets. The researchers shows that their brains looked different on scans before and after learning The Knowledge. More than that, they could see structural differences in the brains of those who passed the test of The Knowledge, compared to those who failed. nature.com/articles/natur… This doesn’t mean that learning The Knowledge is neurological. It means that learning and behaviour differences are visible in our brains. The Knowledge is only neurological in the sense that everything we do, think and feel are reflected in our brains. So what are autism and ADHD then, if they aren’t neurological? They certainly aren’t anyone’s fault. They describe real differences. They are a description of a cluster of behaviours, not an explanation. They don’t mean that we’ve found out WHY someone is behaving the way that they are. They just give it a name. A very useful name, but a name isn’t an explanation.

Don’t forget our conference on the 21st and 22nd Jan in Glasgow. We have some great speakers 👇🏻 @FrGregBoyle @HomeboyInd @ScotVRUHead @DrGoodalltweets @rymchenry @EMAtTheDeepEnd @NavigatorsScot @tomeberry Michael Murray Online booking till 13th Jan eventbrite.co.uk/e/violence-pre…

This promises to be an excellent event. @DrAngelaKennedy a pioneer and leader in the field of trauma informed practice and founder of TICA. EXceptional speakers. traumainformedcommunityaction.org/2025-conferenc…

Monday 25th November marks the beginning of #16DaysOfActivism. We will be sharing resources from our toolkit, developed with the National VAW Network in Scotland, throughout the campaign. Find out more about 16 Days here: improvementservice.org.uk/products-and-s…

🆕research led by Dr David Walsh shows UK Government ‘austerity’ policies since 2010 are associated with striking increases in rates of preterm and low birthweight babies, particularly among those living in the poorest neighbourhoods. #HealthInequalities gla.ac.uk/news/headline_…

New paper out today. Only roughly 10 years in the making... @cara_booker @CathalMcCrory1 @robertpaval @iainjgallagher @bristimtom and others who've left the Twitter deathzone. A glossary for social-to-biological research bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/view/journals/…

This will be an excellent event with incredible speakers.

We wish we could eradicate ‘just a’ from NHS vocabulary. Every single person plays their part, and it couldn’t happen without everyone.

A psychological Approach to Understanding Suicide and Suicide Prevention - Completed module 3, the IMV Model? Learn more about what works to prevent suicidal behaviour in module 4 - learn.nes.nhs.scot/64773 @suicideresearch

Over six years @Rose_Fitzp has played a key leadership role in our mission to prevent suicide. Now she's stepping down from her role as chair of our National Suicide Prevention Advisory Group. In her final interview, Rose reflects on her time - and hopes for the future. 💙💜

The LENS🔥👌🏽 #LivedExperienceNetworkScotland🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 It’s time we had a network for those of us striving for services that are actually informed by people’s real life experiences. “It cannot be trauma informed unless it’s informed by those of us with lived experience of trauma”(CW)