The Three R's - Trauma Informed Plymouth Network

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?

Are we clear about our roles and how do we achieve clarity?

We need to attach roles to values, culture and ways of working:

In describing roles, we need to go beyond just a list of tasks and responsibilities

Not being expected to work outside your remit
Being confident and comfortable about not knowing everything, but knowing someone who does
Having good relationships with people in other roles
It being safe to ask questions
Being supported when and where its needed

How does your role expose you to direct and/or vicarious trauma?

Need to be aware of the stress of working in a system that is very overstretched

How does your role contribute to other people’s trauma?

What are the rules that govern our service, and are these applied consistently?

Policies and processes that keep staff and service users safe
Organisations being open to changing and reducing unnecessary rules—across all levels, service users, public facing workers, managers, leaders etc
Language that is used to communicate rules
Contracts that outline reciprocal responsibilities and expectations, not just those that apply to staff

Rules can create barriers
Fear to do things differently
Stifles innovation and creativity and the space to do things differently
Can make staff and service uses feel disempowered
Breaking the rules can create positive change
Rules need to be purposeful and enabling, rather than restricting, e.g. Flexibility in relation to what is going on in people’s lives outside work

Some rules are grounded in legislation and cannot be easily changed,

E.g. around services for people who lack mental capacity
Some such rules take a very long time to change.
There is an interesting relationship between rules and behaviour, e.g. the impact of the smoking ban and smoking rates

How do we react to people and situations?

Aiming to treat all people with respect regardless of what you know about them.
Aiming to treat people with ‘unconditional positive regard’
Having clear boundaries in terms of how we are spoken to and treated
Understanding threat responses and how to respond to these

Example:

Messaging about expectation of mutually respectful behaviours and treatment

Are we reactive or reflective?

Depends on the work being done, and the pressures people are under.
Can be difficult to reflect before responding, in the moment.
Sitting on it before responding, e.g. sending an email when we have calmed down!
We might see or engage in avoidant behaviour rather than addressing difficult situations

Is there ‘psychological splitting’ within a team, where different staff members see and treat service users differently?
Unconscious bias training can help
Learning spaces to talk about how and why people see and treat people differently
Personal circumstances and experiences can impact on treatment