Introduction to Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE)

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PIE and The Trauma LensWhat is a PIE?Assessment ApproachesSelf-AssessmentAdditional Resources
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PIE and the Trauma Lens

There is work being done across the city to support a trauma-informed approach across services for people with complex needs in Plymouth.

The focus is on lived experience and creating psychologically informed services and environments.

The Network is ‘a space that offers connection and embraces the value of trusted and healthy relationships. We celebrate the strength, personal growth, innovation and creativity that can grow from adversity and experiences of trauma.’

Defining and Understanding Trauma

Trauma:

  • Is an internal response to a difficult experience
  • Can affect individuals, families and communities
  • It makes people feel very unsafe and activates stress reactions
  • Systems, processes, and chaotic life events can be retraumatising
  • ACEs are understood to have long term effects, particularly if a child has experienced a number of traumas over an extended period of time (chronic stress)

What is a Psychologically Informed Environment (PIE)?

  • It is about taking a trauma-informed approach and working to create a psychologically-informed environment that recognises the importance of relationships and trust between staff, volunteers and people receiving support
  • It is about enabling staff and volunteers to find a sense of meaning, value and purpose in their work, in the face of real challenges.
  • And creating safe spaces for people who have experienced trauma and/or are engaged in self-sabotaging behaviours or thought processes, to access the support they need.

PIE as an Approach for Assessing Services

‘Psychologically Informed Environments’ is an approach for service development and culture change.

A team or service are asked to self-assess how well they are doing across five key areas:

  • Psychological Awareness
  • Training and Support for Staff
  • Learning and Enquiry
  • Spaces of Opportunity
  • The Three ‘R’s (Rules, Roles and Responsiveness)

Note: Service Users would ideally be involved in this process.

1. Psychological Awareness

  • The need for service providers to act with understanding, empathy, tolerance and compassion
  • To have an understanding and to be able to apply different psychological models and techniques to their work, as appropriate
  • To be sensitive to age, culture, gender, disability, sexuality, ethnicity, financial circumstances and other factors that impact on people’s experiences of life and services

2. Training and Support for Staff

  • An understanding that staff working with people with complex needs need support themselves
  • Importance of regular effective supervision, enabling people to manage the challenges that the work presents
  • On-going training on the issues their service users have or may experience
  • The aim is to build up and sustain a positive, safe and supportive working environment

3. Learning and Enquiry

  • Developing a ‘culture of enquiry’ and/or becoming a ‘learning organisation’ that is proactive in creating and engaging with different sources of knowledge
  • Staff having opportunities for reflection on action and reflection in action:

“What have I learned? What could I have done differently?”

  • Regular opportunities for team sharing and learning
  • Working to develop partnerships and networks for learning, taking a whole systems approach
  • Co-production with people who use services

4. Spaces of Opportunity

  • How people move through the service, both literally and metaphorically
  • How the physical space makes people feel
  • Identifying where there may be barriers to people accessing support
  • The messages that the physical spaces convey
  • How people move through a service in terms of the support they are able to access
  • Asking whether there are opportunities for service users to influence how things are done

5. The Three ‘R’s

  • Roles: Are we clear about our roles?
  • Rules: What are the rules that govern our service, and are these applied consistently?
  • Responsiveness: How do we react to people and situations? Are we reactive or reflective?

Using PIE for Self-Assessment for Service Development

Doing the PIE self-assessment:

  • Across the five key areas, the team asks themselves these questions:
    1. Where are we at now? (on a scale 1-10)
    2. What is the evidence?
    3. What helps in this area?
    4. What hinders in this area?
    5. What are my/our next steps?
  • This allows the team/ service to see which areas need improving
  • There are examples of services and projects that have used PIE for service improvement here:
PIELink – A Practice Exchange for Psychologically Informed Environments

Additional Resources