Vision & Values

Plymouth envisions a transformative approach that enables its people, its communities and its services to come together, to innovate and create a truly compassionate city.

A city where people can feel safer within their community environments and within the security of safer and more healthy relationships; where people’s experience and choices matter; where communities are supportive and work with services to deliver outcomes that are truly person centred; where people seek connection with each other and are kind; where people trust each other, learn reflectively together and are truly collaborative; where people take responsibility, empowering each other to make a difference

Our Vision
Our Values

Our Vision

A compassionate Plymouth is a trauma sensitive city.
Realise

It realises the potentially damaging consequences of traumatic experience and the opportunities that exist for healing to occur through safe relationships.

Recognise

It recognises the signs and expressions of trauma, but courageously seeks to address the underlying causes.

Respond

It responds with empathy, integrating the knowledge of trauma into its policies and professional practice.

Resist

It resists retraumatising people and seeks at all times to de-escalate the deep anxiety that adversity can cause.

Resilience

It develops resilience within people and communities, enabling people to build upon their strengths and continue to challenge the causes of adversity.

Our Values

Our values are depicted in the Trauma Lens which sits at the heart of our Plymouth Approach and drives all our work. Applying the Trauma Lens is about becoming trauma informed people – about being the change we want to see.

We particularly celebrate people, teams and organisations who approach us to review policies, documents, training programs or procedures they have adapted using the trauma lens.

We welcome you using the Trauma Lens. Please note, resources produced and developed within the Network remain the intellectual property of the Trauma Informed Plymouth Network CIC and should be properly referenced as belonging to the Network.

Safer

We prioritise physical, emotional, and psychological safety as foundations for positive relationships and an understanding of the impact of shame for those affected by trauma and adversity. We recognise that absolute safety can never be guaranteed, and that safety can mean different things to different people, but we work hard to help people feel safer in all our Network activity.

  • We recognise how trauma shows up in people’s lives
  • We recognise the impact of shame
  • We create safer spaces and systems
  • We help people to feel safer
  • We build mutually respectful and trusted relationships

Person centred

We see the person in every interaction and seek to build upon the strengths each person brings to the Network, recognising and valuing their lived and living experience. We aspire to be a Network that ‘reaches out’, rather than remains static. We will continue to respond to the voices of our members and simultaneously strive to notice and reach out to those voices that are going unheard.

  • Lived and living experience matters
  • Strengths count
  • Choice is important
  • Rights and needs are recognised
  • We reach out to individuals and communities

Kind

We notice when we are judging and work hard to stay out of judgement, understanding that shaming and blaming language can impact our work towards safety and can harm relationships. When there is a need for challenge, or to hold ourselves or others to account, we will do so with honesty and empathy as essential qualities for nurturing positive relationships. We recognise that there is a difference between ‘being nice’ and ‘being kind’ and in doing so, respect the boundaries that are integral to the clarity required for kindness.

  • We notice when we are judging
  • We are shame sensitive
  • We seek connection
  • We are emotionally aware
  • We foster honesty, curiosity, and empathy

Empowering

We ‘dare to try’ to enact cultural change, seeking to make a difference and be the change we want to see. We acknowledge that people who have experienced or are experiencing trauma may feel powerless to control what happens to them or feel isolated by their experiences. We recognise language and dynamics which reinforce existing power structures and challenge them with respectful honesty rather than perpetuate them. In doing so we help each other to come into our own power.

  • We validate feelings and concerns
  • We listen to what a person wants and needs
  • We support people to make decisions and take action
  • We are transparent
  • We take responsibility

Collaborative

We work together for the best possible outcome, being open when something has not worked, being reflective about how we can be better together, and welcoming the opportunities for shared learning.

  • With people using services
  • With communities
  • With colleagues
  • With partners
  • We learn reflectively

The Plymouth Trauma Lens 

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