Our Journey

From a conversation in early 2018 to a membership of just under 1000 people in Spring 2024, our Network has grown and grown exponentially… sprouting new branches in a truly grass-roots and organic way, due to the passion and goodwill of the people involved.

We began as a conversation about how trauma and childhood adversity underpin so many of the difficulties people experience. We also wanted to challenge the fatalistic narrative that childhood adversity negatively predicts later outcomes. We want to validate people’s trauma whilst also celebrating the strength, insight and resilience that define so many people who have experienced hardship.

Our History

Our History

This was a conversation that took place in July 2021 with three of the founding members of the Trauma Informed Plymouth Network.

They were asked to talk about how the Network came about, their thoughts on how it has grown, what they feel has been achieved and their hopes for its future.

Just some of our highlights – how busy we’ve been already!

  • 2018

    January - April

    – Where it all began! Two of our Network founders met by chance at a community safety workshop and connected through a conversation regarding trauma informed practice. This led to an initial meeting involving our 5 Network founders, Simon Hardwick, Anna Moss, Shelley Shaw, Ollie Mackie and Sarah Goddard, where the decision was taken to establish the Trauma Informed Plymouth Network.

  • 2018

    May

    – NSPCC hosted the first Trauma Informed Plymouth Network meeting – 15 people attended.

    – Network attended a school’s ACE conference at Stoke Damerel Community College where Warren Larkin was the keynote speaker.

  • 2018

    July

    – 1st branch of the Trauma Informed Plymouth Network – Workforce Development

     

  • 2018

    November

    – A network planning session led to the creation of the Plymouth Trauma Lens, which was borne from discussions about the values that underpin a trauma informed approach. Approach to Envisioning Plymouth as Trauma-Informed City document was starting to take shape.

    – Safer Plymouth (Plymouth City Council) formally stated an intent to adopt the trauma informed approach as the core narrative of the Community Safety Partnership.

     

  • 2019

    January

    – Trauma Informed Plymouth Network development session at Stoke Damerel Community College facilitated by Dr Warren Larkin around trauma informed system change and the TASC model.

  • 2019

    March

    – Safer Plymouth Trauma Informed Plymouth Network Conference. Launch of the Approach to Envisioning Plymouth as Trauma-Informed City document. Keynote speakers:

    • Gilli Watson, Chartered Clinical Psychologist Consultant and Trainer. The Impact of Social Inequalities on Health and Mental Health: Towards Trauma Informed Practice and Communities.
    • Rudi Dallos, Professor of Clinical Psychology at Plymouth University Trauma, Blame and Good Intentions.
    • Richard Byng, Research Professor – Neuroscience of Trauma Mental Health Consequences of Trauma and Adversity.
    • Lindsay Cooper Smith, SEN Teacher at The Edison Centre and Trauma Informed Schools Co-Ordinator for Discovery Multi Academy Trust.
    • Trauma Informed Plymouth Network – Principles into Practice: focusing on the 5 key principles of Safe, Kind, Collaborative, Empowering and Person-centred – workshops facilitated by Shelley Shaw, Simon Hardwick, Hannah Shead, Bartosz Zaniewski and Anna Moss.

  • 2019

    June

    – Trauma Informed Plymouth Network & Approach discussed at Plymouth City Council Cabinet. Recommendation: To provide Cabinet’s full support to the development of trauma-informed approaches, making Plymouth a trauma-informed City.

  • 2019

    July

    – Network presentation to Plymouth Strategic Health & Wellbeing Board, Windsor House. Trauma-informed approach endorsed by the board.

    – Safer Plymouth ‘Trauma Informed System’ re-design presented to the Community Safety Partnership Executive.

  • 2019

    September

    – 2nd branch of the Trauma Informed Plymouth Network – Education

  • 2019

    October

    – 3rd branch of Trauma Informed Plymouth Network – Lived Experience – a safe place for people with lived experience (professionals and non-professionals) to share an equal space

  • 2019

    November

    – the Trauma Informed Plymouth Network reaches 133 members

  • 2020

    January

    – 1st Trauma Informed Practice training delivered to multi-agency professionals in collaboration with Plymouth Safeguarding Children Partnership & Office of Police and Crime Commission.

  • 2020

    February

    – Trauma Informed Plymouth Network presents the Plymouth Approach at the Wave Trust UK Alliance meeting for Trauma Informed Communities which is part of the World Health Organisation pan-European alliance.

  • 2020

    June

    – Network presents the Plymouth Approach at the All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of ACEs

  • 2020

    September

    – Trauma Informed leadership input to NSPCC national leadership team.

    – Trauma Informed input to National Working Group – Tackling Child Sexual Exploitation members

  • 2020

    October

    – Trauma Informed practice webinar with Barnardo’s Plymouth.

    – Trauma Informed Plymouth Network input to World Health Organisation Trauma Informed Communities Oslo webinar, coordinated by the Wave Trust.

    – The Trauma Informed Plymouth Network reaches 185 members

  • 2020

    December

    – Trauma Informed leadership development workshop with the South-West Reducing Reoffending Partnership Board

    – Trauma Informed leadership & Kindness Charter input to Plymouth City Council Management Team

     

  • 2021

  • 2021

    May

    – Trauma Informed Plymouth Network Event ‘Thinking Critically About Trauma’ – second reflective learning session with guest speaker Dez Holmes

  • 2021

    July

     – Trauma Informed Plymouth Network cross-system strategic leadership session facilitated by Dr Warren Larkin

    – Trauma Informed Plymouth Network Event ‘An ounce of prevention is (still) better than a pound of cure’ Building upon a Trauma-Informed Care Foundation – some key concepts and ideas for lasting change. Third reflective learning event with guest speaker Dr Warren Larkin

     – Network coordinator post established through generous funding from Plymouth City Council to support the development and sustainability of the Trauma Informed Plymouth Network

  • 2021

    November

    – Trauma Informed Plymouth Network Event ‘Why a trauma-informed approach requires shame sensitive practice’ – fourth reflective learning session with guest speaker Luna Dolezal attended by 114 people from across the Peninsula and as far away as Cork, S. Ireland.

     

  • 2021

    December

    – the Trauma Informed Plymouth Network successfully becomes a not-for-profit Community Interest Company

    – the Trauma Informed Plymouth Network ends the year with over 300 members.

  • 2022

    March

    – Lads Like Us deliver a powerfully moving guest speaker session about male childhood sexual abuse for the Trauma Informed Plymouth Network. People don’t want to leave after 2hrs 50mins!

  • 2022

    July

    Peninsula-wide Trauma Informed Conference hosted at the University of Plymouth as a collaboration between trauma networks in Plymouth, Torbay, Devon and Cornwall. Key note speakers Nazir Afzal OBE, Dr Lucy Johnstone (Power Threat Meaning Framework) and Graham Chatterley (When the Adult Changes, Everything Changes) along with workshops on the PTMF, shame competence, compassionate language and co-production.

  • 2022

    To date

    The Trauma Informed Plymouth Network’s Trauma Informed Practice training has been delivered to over 1,000 members of the Plymouth workforce.

Join our movement for change

Our ambition is for Plymouth to be a trauma-informed city. Our independent network is open to anyone connected with Plymouth with a desire to learn about and promote trauma informed ways of being. You too can join our Network and help Plymouth become a safer and kinder place, where the impact of trauma and adversity is both recognised and responded to with sensitivity and compassion.

Become a member