Pathways to Impact Trauma-Informed Practice

The Criminology, Policing, and Law team at Wrexham University is developing a growing programme of research focused on trauma-informed practice. Through collaboration with external partners and organisations, this work is helping to translate research into practical guidance, training, and support models that can be embedded across services and communities.

Understanding What’s Already Happening

The team's interest in this area grew from Dr Tegan Brierley-Sollis’ PhD research exploring trauma within the youth justice system. While it is widely recognised that effective relationships, whether in therapy, friendship, education, or youth justice settings, depend on trust and rapport, Tegan’s research highlighted that being trauma-informed extends beyond individual interactions. Instead, it requires organisations to embed a culture of curiosity, reflection, and understanding throughout their practices.

Creating this type of cultural change can be particularly challenging in services designed to work with young people who offend. Tegan’s research emphasised the importance of “compassionate accountability”: recognising that offending behaviour may be linked to traumatic experiences and can sometimes act as a form of communication. This approach encourages practitioners to understand behaviour within its wider context while maintaining appropriate accountability and support.

From Insight to Action

As part of this work, Tegan developed Navigating the Storm, a short, animated explainer that uses a lighthouse and nautical analogy to illustrate trauma, resilience, and our ability to process difficult experiences. By presenting complex ideas in an accessible format, the resource has helped engage a wider audience and contributed to the development of a strong and ongoing partnership with ACE Hub Wales, a Welsh Government-funded organisation that supports Wales in becoming more responsive to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and trauma.

Building on this relationship, members of the wider team have collaborated with ACE Hub Wales on a literature review exploring key language and terminology relating to trauma. The partnership also led to funding for a research project focused on addressing vicarious trauma within policing.

Working alongside colleagues from Social Work and Policing, the team developed a peer-to-peer supervision model designed to support police officers and staff who encounter potentially traumatic situations as part of their duties. The model aims to create structured opportunities for reflection, support, and wellbeing within the workplace.

Alongside these developments, Tegan worked with ACE Hub Wales and colleagues across the University to create trauma-informed researcher guidance. This guidance supports researchers undertaking work with potentially vulnerable groups, helping them to recognise and manage the emotional impact that sensitive research can have on their own wellbeing.

On the Pathway to Impact

Following the positive response to the police peer supervision study, the team secured additional funding to pilot the SUPPORT model within ClwydAlyn, a housing association working across North Wales. This next stage of the research will explore how trauma-informed approaches can be adapted and embedded within different organisational contexts.

Looking ahead, the team plans to manualise the SUPPORT model, enabling other organisations and researchers to adopt and implement the approach within their own settings. By providing practical tools and evidence-based guidance, the model has the potential to support workforce wellbeing, strengthen organisational resilience, and reduce the impact of vicarious and indirect trauma across a range of sectors.

Why This Matters

Although many organisations aspire to be trauma-informed, becoming trauma-informed is best understood as an ongoing journey rather than a destination. It involves continual learning, reflection, and adaptation at individual and organisational levels.

The work being undertaken at Wrexham University contributes to this journey by helping organisations move beyond awareness and towards meaningful cultural change. Through research, partnership working, and the development of practical resources, the team is supporting services to better understand the impact of trauma on the people they serve and the staff who support them.

This work aligns closely with Welsh policy priorities. The Welsh Government has identified the development of trauma-informed services as a key ambition across public services, including youth justice, where weaving trauma-informed practice throughout all levels of service delivery is a central aim (Ministry of Justice and Welsh Government, 2019).

By translating research into practical action, the team is helping to build healthier, more reflective, and more compassionate organisations, creating lasting benefits for practitioners, organisations, and the communities they serve.