Cllr Jill Truesdale brings motion to council on Trauma Informed Care
Mournes Alliance Councillor Jill Truesdale brought a motion to the full Council meeting on Monday 2nd December 2024 for Newry Mourne and Down District Council to commit to becoming a trauma informed council.
The motion was presented to Council and will be forwarded to the Active Healthy Communities Committee for further consideration.
Trauma informed practice is grounded in the understanding that trauma has a significant impact on a person’s life. The prevalence of trauma can have an impact on the emotional, physiological, and social well-being of a person.
Cllr Truesdale said: “I have carried out trauma informed study as well as Counsellor training but this is an area where the training is never complete… it’s a constantly evolving area.
“However, two presentations over the past number of weeks in council have made me realise how important it is for us as a council to be better informed.
“The first was the presentation we received on the Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy and the second was our PCSP meeting last week where we had an update from Superintendent Norman Haslett from the Newry Mourne and Down District Command Unit.
‘We have to understand what is Trauma? Trauma is defined as:
“Experiences that cause intense physical and psychological stress reactions. It may be from a single event, multiple events or a set of circumstances experienced by an individual as physically and emotionally harmful or threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individuals physical, social, emotional or spiritual wellbeing.”
“Trauma can come through any event and what may be traumatic for some, may not be for others and vice versa but we must be mindful given our landscape and worrying statistics.
“During the Policing and Community Safety Partnership Meeting last week I was stunned to read the PSNI statistics on ‘Operation Encompass’.
https://www.operationencompass.org
| Operation Encompass is a police and education early intervention safeguarding partnership enabling support for children and young people who are experiencing domestic abuse and suffer an Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE). Police Support Hub Officers contact the Designated Teacher at the School attended by the child, so that they can monitor how the ACE has affected them and put in place measures to support the child. Current provisional statistics for the new 2024/25 School Year ( to 31st October 2024), Police have attended 148 Domestic Incidents where the Operation Encompass criteria has been met and referred 286 children to Schools/Further Education Colleges, as they have been exposed to an ACE. |
“As a former teacher, I find that these figures are truly shocking and I must commend the Officers in every incident where children are subject to being in a home where domestic violence occurs.
“All of the children involved suffered an adverse childhood experience and many will carry that for the rest of their lives. Unless addressed, that trauma can cause great harm and can be expressed in a variety of unhealthy ways.
“Operation Encompass is a fantastic initiative and schools are stepping up with their training and expanding their knowledge of the great harm ACE’s can cause.”
A trauma informed lens is one that means we all make the decision to avoid triggering others and are more conscious of sensitivities around related incidents.’
Jill added on how this can relate to the work of the COPuncil. She added: “Trauma comes in many forms, research consistently shows that domestic violence is significantly higher in conflict regions.
“We live in a post-conflict society and we don’t have a shared narrative of the troubles.
“Some have been impacted more than others but the trauma will have hit most families in the province and it can be passed down through the generations.
“As a Council we need to develop our understanding of what being trauma-informed means, across councillors, in our offices and with council staff, for this initiative to really benefit our residents. Being trauma informed is to understand and consider the pervasive nature of trauma and promotes environments of healing and recovery.
“It’s to acknowledge that a significant portion of the population may have experienced trauma, and by understanding this, the workplace, our offices and ourselves can create a more supportive and safer environment, preventing potential re-traumatisation through sensitive practices, reducing stress, and ultimately improving well-being.
“Essentially, it shifts the focus from “what’s wrong with you” to “what happened to you” when interacting with employees and constituents.
