NCRM Resource for trainers: Safety first – being trauma sensitive when delivering training

No trainer/educator sets out to cause upset or distress to participants on the course, nor is there an intention to exacerbate trauma, trauma being the sustained effects on functioning and wellbeing of harmful experience(s). Moreover, generally participants do not experience re-traumatisation from participation in trauma-related research or training. Yet it remains a risk if the trainer is inexperienced or has not considered potential risks; trauma-informed pedagogy is less well understood than trauma-informed care or even research.

Experiencing trauma is more prevalent than we may realise, and we need to be informed. This means understanding the role trauma may have played in our participants’ lives and planning accordingly as we are mindful of how this could be triggered or exacerbated through our training in terms both of methods of teaching, as well as the content.

This resource gives some basic steers to care-full, ethical practice so that we are aware of what to do if teaching makes participants distressed, as well as how we can modify our teaching to ensure that we are trauma informed. It also provides signposts to additional resources to learn more.