I took the above picture when out walking last weekend, I really love the Autumn colours at this time of year … And you know, it really helps my wellbeing being outside with my fur babies … anyway, onto the blog!
I have been reflecting on our roll out of Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE) and Trauma Informed Care (TIC), which is happening as we speak across P3, some of you may have completed this training, others may be booked on, but I’m thinking you have at least heard about it.
As an organisation, we have really embraced this model (or way of working) and what I know clearly is that it really fits with our vision and culture.
What I really love about both PIE and TIC within P3 is that so many people have spoken to me to say, ‘we’re already doing it’ or ‘trauma informed practice is how my team support people every day’. All we are doing within this roll out is evidencing the passion, focus, kindness and support you offer every single day.
What is a PIE?
The (Good practice Guide Dept of Communities and Local Gov 2012) tells us that it is, ‘an environment that takes into account the psychological make up: the thinking, emotions, personalities and past experiences of its participants, in the way it operates’.
The impact on services and people’s lives can be really significant, it means we can respond to situations or behaviours in a more supportive way, and that we recognise the impact of trauma in people’s lives.
When supporting people, our colleagues will be able to describe the needs of people accessing our services in emotional or psychological terms, considering what has brought them here today and then respond empathically. The PIE framework is broken down into five key areas and interestingly three of the sections relate to teams and colleagues. This shows that culture change is key to better support services, better support for all colleagues and an increase in quality.
We are considering the organisation as a whole, not just our operational services, our behaviour, ethos and culture.
The five areas are:
What are our spaces like? Private? Clean? Welcoming? Warm?
The wellbeing of people accessing our services, colleagues and teams. The impact of trauma should be considered (Trauma Informed Care is within this section).
- Three R’s: Rules, Roles, and Responsiveness:
Do we all clearly know the expectations of our roles and responsibilities, do we reflect when managing a crisis situation? Do we show ‘elastic tolerance’?
Is the training completed relevant to the role? Are supervisions completed and are they psychologically informed? Do we have debriefs following any incidents or crisis to consider learning?
Is reflective practice encouraged? Are we a learning team? Do we consider different approaches where we are able?
Trauma Informed Care
When we work alongside people who have experienced trauma, we can, unknowingly re-traumatise the person. Adopting the model of trauma informed care or practice will provide a supportive approach that focuses on avoiding that re-traumatisation.
By training our teams and leaders in TIC, this will give us an awareness to consider how we are responding, and could we respond differently.
The principles of TIC are:
- Safety – does the person feel safe? Is the setting safe. Again environment and how we are considering where and how we support people is key.
- Trustworthiness and Transparency – how do we build trust with people? Are we as transparent as we can be with our teams and people we work alongside?
- Peer Support – how is this encouraged and supported within our teams? could we do better? How?
- Collaboration & Mutuality – this is about the levelling of power, ensuring people are involved in decision making where we can. How do we listen to people and allow this to shape services?
- Empowerment, Voice and Choice – promoting strengths with people, the person knows best, how do we hear and respond to that?
- Cultural Consideration – how do we raise awareness of cultural differences? How do we encourage people to understand their culture and promote this?
PIE & TIC in action
Here P3 Derbyshire Outreach Team Leader Mel Leicester, sums up the training and how she recently put it into practice perfectly.
“I attended the PIE and TIC training courses lead By Marissa and Annie recently. Before the training, I admit thinking to myself it was another mandatory training course I had to go … BUT after attending it I straight away realised it made me think about things in a different way and look at all situations individually.
“This training really came into focus and helped me so much last weekend … I helped at the Emergency Evacuation Centre in Chesterfield on Saturday. This was the Centre for people affected by the flooding. We were asked to look at supporting the people who had lost their homes through the flooding, they had been placed there overnight with strangers, in a sports hall, with no personal belongings.
“I arrived to see dozens of tearful, emotional, frightened and tired faces that then looked with a glimmer of hope and widened eyes, as I was introduced as Mel from P3 Charity – who was there today to listen to them and to offer support and advice to get them through the next few days. I explained I would be there for as long as was needed and I would see everyone that needed to be seen.
“One group/person at a time; I sat and I listened. Some wanted to tell me everything, some were too traumatised to even talk about it … But the important thing was I listened to what they wanted. After seeing a couple of people I realised they had all gone through the same trauma in varying degrees, they had all lost their homes, their belongings and they were currently in a Leisure Centre with other people just like them. I realised I didn’t need to know all the details, while understanding I just needed to support them with what they needed now, in this moment, with some kindness and … A SMILE.
“It was then that my whole thought process changed. My PIE/TIC training sprang into action and I evolved my approach, to ensure I listened and did what I could for them now.
“Evaluating the day after on what had happened and how it had affected me and the people I had supported, I realised what I had listened to and learned at the PIE and TIC training just two weeks earlier was what I had experienced and used—I had used what I had been taught and put it into practice—thinking first … and the people around me at P3 were also using it by their actions, their check-ins and emails and support.
“I just wanted to share this with everyone, and thank P3 for arming me with the training that enables me to do my role.”
If we all take one thing from the training and bring it to life like Mel has, then the impact will speak for itself.
If you would like to know more about this training, please do get in touch.
All our Operations Managers have been busy booking in training sessions, so do contact yours to get booked on if you haven’t done so already. If you are in a core department, please get in touch with me (Esther Barrett) or Lisa Burgess and we will set up a session with you.
Esther Barrett, Assistant Director of Operations
