People with experience of mental health services are helping to improve care for people who have experienced trauma.
This Co-Production Week (30 June to 4 July) and every week of the year, Lived Experience Ambassadors are working alongside staff at Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (EPUT) on several initiatives to increase understanding of how trauma affects everybody differently.
One example is the Trauma Buddy passport, a pocket-sized card for patients to write down what triggers theme to recall trauma events, the signs to look out for, and what staff can do to support them.
It is a simple way to help healthcare professionals understand quickly when someone is triggered, so they can support them in the way that’s best for the individual.
Trauma Buddy was created by our Time to Care/Trauma Informed Care Involvement Group, who have lived experience of the effects of trauma and/or using mental health services, either as service users or as staff.
It is currently being trialled in four of EPUT’s mental health wards.
Lived Experience Ambassador (LEA) Jenny Matten, co-lead of the Time to Care/Trauma Informed Care Involvement Group, said: “Trauma Buddy has been designed to be accessible for everyone, both patients and staff, and to make having what can be a difficult conversation much easier.
“Individuals can show the card to staff, who can see at a glance what they can do to help them.”
The South East Essex Trauma Alliance, which is led by staff working in EPUT’s Psychological Services, trains and supports organisations to identify people who have experienced trauma and understand the impact it has on their health and wellbeing.
The team currently works with about 30 teams and organisations across south east Essex, including charities, and health and social care providers.
Jenny, who is also one of the LEAs who helps deliver trauma awareness training alongside the mental health professionals, said: “My input is always actively encouraged throughout all the projects and training the Trauma Alliance deliver and what’s more, when I make suggestions I see things being changed to reflect these suggestions.
“I always come away from any meeting feeling listened to, valued and appreciated; I feel like I am making a difference.
The Trauma Alliance also ensures its training is co-produced with the organisations it works with, so that the learning is relevant for their staff or volunteers and the people they care for or come into contact with who may have experienced trauma.
Kerry Mayers, Consultant Counselling Psychologist, said: “One of the core principles of trauma awareness work is to identify opportunities for co-production, such as in our bitesize training sessions.
“We infuse co-production in so much of what we deliver – if it isn’t co-produced, it isn’t trauma informed.”
The Trust’s Lived Experience in Education team also runs several initiatives in which people share their personal experiences with staff and students.
This includes the Buddy Scheme, which allows nursing and Allied Health Professionals students to have one-to-one conversations with LEAs and to ask questions, giving them the chance to reflect and appreciate what it’s like to receive mental health care.
The volunteers openly discuss their experiences of accessing support and share examples of when they have received high quality care and where there has been room for improvement.
People with learning disabilities, autism, or both are also co-delivering Oliver McGowan training on learning disability and autism to staff working across EPUT and mid and south Essex.
The training has been rolled out across the NHS and aims to save lives by ensuring health and social care workers have the skills and knowledge to provide safe, compassionate and informed care to autistic people, and people with a learning disability.
And LEAs also co-produce trauma awareness training sessions for newly qualified practitioners. They share their personal stories of living with the impact of trauma and their experiences of care.