Understanding trauma
Trauma, adversity and trauma-informed principles.
- Level
- Bitesize
- Learning time
- 2 hours
- Where
- Trauma-Informed Leadership and Organisations
- Price
- £39
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Read the full terms
Certificate of Completion
Overview and Outcomes.
Overview
This module explores what trauma is, how it shows up and why it belongs on every leader's agenda. It covers SAMHSA's three Es, Herman's account of complex trauma, the Welsh Adverse Childhood Experiences study by Bellis and colleagues, and Siegel's window of tolerance, with Aberfan in 1966 as its case study. It matters because leaders set the conditions in which people are helped or harmed. This module moves from understanding trauma to a trauma-informed approach. It sets out SAMHSA's four Rs and six principles, Harris and Fallot's five core values, and the difference between trauma-informed and trauma-specific services, then looks at Scotland's National Trauma Transformation Programme and its four practice levels as a workforce design tool. It matters because principles only count where people can feel them. This module explores the Trauma-Informed Wales framework, published in 2022 by ACE Hub Wales and Traumatic Stress Wales, with its four practice levels and five principles, and the TrACE Organisations Toolkit that helps put it into practice. It traces Welsh policy from the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 to the Homelessness and Social Housing Allocation (Wales) Act 2026, and shows why systems, not only people, must be trauma-informed.
What you'll develop
In this Bitesize, you will develop the ability to:
- Explain SAMHSA's three Es of trauma and distinguish single incident, complex, developmental, collective and organisational forms of trauma.
- Interpret findings such as the Welsh ACE study as population patterns rather than predictions about any one person.
- Describe SAMHSA's four Rs and six principles and explain how each translates into what an organisation does rather than what it knows.
- Distinguish trauma-informed services from trauma-specific services and use Harris and Fallot's five core values to test a process in your service.
- Describe the four practice levels and five principles of the Trauma-Informed Wales framework and what makes it a societal rather than a single-service approach.
The Modules.
2 hours of learning.
- 01Foundations: Trauma, Adversity and LeadershipThis module explores what trauma is, how it shows up and why it belongs on every leader's agenda. It covers SAMHSA's three Es, Herman's account of complex trauma, the Welsh Adverse Childhood Experiences study by Bellis and colleagues, and Siegel's window of tolerance, with Aberfan in 1966 as its case study. It matters because leaders set the conditions in which people are helped or harmed.37 min
- 02Trauma-Informed Approaches: Principles and FrameworksThis module moves from understanding trauma to a trauma-informed approach. It sets out SAMHSA's four Rs and six principles, Harris and Fallot's five core values, and the difference between trauma-informed and trauma-specific services, then looks at Scotland's National Trauma Transformation Programme and its four practice levels as a workforce design tool. It matters because principles only count where people can feel them.37 min
- 03Trauma-Informed Wales at Organisational ScaleThis module explores the Trauma-Informed Wales framework, published in 2022 by ACE Hub Wales and Traumatic Stress Wales, with its four practice levels and five principles, and the TrACE Organisations Toolkit that helps put it into practice. It traces Welsh policy from the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 to the Homelessness and Social Housing Allocation (Wales) Act 2026, and shows why systems, not only people, must be trauma-informed.38 min
Keep going.
Part of the Trauma-Informed Leadership and Organisations topic, also sold whole as Safe to heal.
Go deeper, and pay only the difference
- You are hereBitesize, 2 hours, £39
- Next stepFocus, Becoming trauma-informed, 3 hours, £69. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £30.
- The whole topicExplore, Safe to heal, 5 hours 30 minutes, £129. Already own the Bitesize? You pay £90.
When you step up to a higher level, what you paid in the last 12 months for lower-level courses inside the bigger course comes off its price, in proportion to how much of each is inside it, whichever topic it's from. Courses at the same or a lower level don't give credit against each other. A Focus course or above always costs at least £15. Prices per person. Read the full terms
Also part of: Seen, safe and heard, Every door the right door
