Barnardos - Pledge

Barnardo’s Scotland has made an organisational commitment to being a trauma-responsive organisation and we have been working hard over the last couple of years to ensure an understanding of trauma-informed practice underpins all of our work with children, young people and families. We are currently in the process of aligning our trauma training and standards with the National Trauma Training Framework (NTTF). Our trauma-responsive organisational framework recognises the need for all staff and volunteers to have; • An understanding of how childhood trauma and adversity can impact the development and mental health of children and young people. • Support to practice in a trauma-informed way, recognising and responding to people with empathy and compassion, enhancing good care, reducing the likelihood of re-traumatisation and specifically addressing barriers which can affect those with an experience of trauma. We recognise that anyone can have experience of trauma, including people within our workforce who provide services to others. We have a range of supports in place for staff and seek to continue to strengthen these over the coming months. Although we have commenced the journey towards becoming trauma responsive and are very proud of the progress we have made to date we are also cognisant of the need to continue to build our vision, and engage in courageous conversations with the individuals and communities we support so they can share their knowledge and expertise and help us co-design effective, impactful services.