Description
Trauma and it’s affects, including PTSD, is ever present in all of our organisations, but how well do we understand it, and how trauma informed are we in our response?
Hetti Barkworth-Nanton, herself a survivor of PTSD, Chair of Refuge which works extensively with women and children who have experienced domestic abuse with high rates of trauma, and working closely with the Ministry of Defence, provides her thoughts on what we should be looking out for and challenges us all to ensure our organisations are trauma informed, not just for today’s population but critically for the new generation coming through the pandemic. She approaches this not as a medical expert in trauma, but as someone who has experienced it, has seen varied responses good and bad, and now leads an organisation where trauma is a constant feature of their work.Â
Before COVID-19, various reports were starting to suggest that trauma is experienced by a higher proportion of the population than we probably thought. Indeed many organisations probably haven’t ever looked at it, believing, wrongly, that it is something that is exclusive to veterans.
A study by Kings College London, published in the Lancet Psychiatrist, suggested that found 31% of young people had a traumatic experience during childhood, and those who were exposed to trauma were twice as likely as their peers to have a range of mental health disorders.
APMS (ADULT PSYCHIATRIC MORBIDITY SURVEY) 2014 reported about 1/3 (31.4%) reported having experienced at least one major trauma in their lifetime.
PTSD UK report that PTSD is experienced by 51% to 75% of women who are victims of Intimate Partner Violence (compared to an average of 10.4% of women in the population).
And of course it is well documented the prevalence of PTSD and experiences of trauma amongst our armed services, police, and other front line workers.
And finally there is a growing body of evidence that young people’s mental wellbeing was disproportionately affected negatively by COVID-19.
