Trauma Informed Practice Training for Workplaces

Trauma Informed Practice in Workplaces: Awareness Training for Managers and Workers

• 57% to 75% of Australians will experience a potentially traumatic event in their lifetime. 
• 5-11% of Australians experience PTSD in their life, with women being at almost twice the risk of men (14% and 8%, respectively)

Trauma-informed practice (TIP) is an approach that recognises that trauma is common and that people accessing services and people delivering services may be affected by trauma.

Each organisation is different, so consultation with workers, reflection on existing practices and considering adjustments to organisational approaches and policies is part of the trauma informed practice.

Trauma informed practice may be applied to workplace policies, health and safety systems, human resource practices, performance management systems, internal investigation processes, wellbeing programs and so forth. READ MORE about TIP, including practices, in our Blog.

Trauma Informed Practice Training at YES Psychology

We provide bespoke TIP training for managers and workers. Topics typically covered include:

• Understanding Trauma and how it presents in the workplace and client context
• A mindset for trauma informed practice and support – compassion and no-blame
• Basic facts and definitions about – stress, posttraumatic stress, accumulative stress and burnout/compassion fatigue
• Principles of trauma-informed practice in the workplace, and examples of how this relates to the organisation
• Discussions and group exercises - identifying your existing trauma informed approaches, building on current strengths, and opportunities for improvement
• How trauma awareness shapes decision-making in the design of work and generation of policy and procedure (psychosocial risk management lens); including approach to investigations and performance management
• Managing potential triggers – how to regulate and co-regulate our responses, including how to self-check our stress levels and bring composure into the moment
• Maintaining empathy and the client relationship in the face of difficult interactions or complexity
• The case of accumulating stress and empathy fatigue and the role of self-care
• Scenarios and discussion – scenarios prepared or arising during the workshop
• The role of managers/teams in the nurturing the trauma informed approach
• Self care and switching off
• In-session activities – practice of exercises for co-regulation, including breathing, grounding, mindfulness and relaxation.

Drawing from Experience

YES Psychology is well placed to provide TIP training and consultation for the following reasons:

• Our senior team have provided and/or managed over 500 trauma support responses for workplace critical incidents over the past 20 years, which involves rapid and live trauma-informed care
• We have a long history in providing training to leaders and peer supporters in how to respond and support staff following potentially traumatic events, including working with organisations such as QLD Police, QLD Fire & Rescue, where a trauma-informed approach is inherent in the support.
• As experienced psychologists we adopt the trauma-informed approach to care and support in our work
• We assist organisations to identify and manage psychosocial risks, including exposure to potentially traumatic material and interactions where accumulative stress may be a risk. Trauma informed practice is part of work design that helps to control risk exposure and support workers.
• Our training programs include interaction, energizers and tools – we bring energy into heavy topics.