National recognition for county council's Children and Family Wellbeing Service
Lancashire County Council's Children and Family Wellbeing Service has received national recognition for its work around trauma informed practices – the first Early Help service in England to receive this accreditation.
The county council is one of seven organisations in Lancashire to receive the Working with Trauma Quality Mark.
Awarded by ‘One Small Thing’, the Working with Trauma Quality Mark provides a robust set of national standards to recognise and celebrate good practice in trauma informed work.
Through Trauma Informed Lancashire, the Lancashire Violence Reduction Network (VRN) has been working with several organisations to help Lancashire culturally adopt trauma informed practices.
Being a Trauma Informed county requires everyone to understand that different life experiences shape the options available to us and our way of being and can use this understanding to influence our interactions and decisions in work and daily life.
To receive the award, the Quality Mark team assess each of the organisations' processes, policies and environments, looking at areas including leadership, workforce development, environment, and person-centred approaches.
County Councillor Cosima Towneley, cabinet member for Children and Families at Lancashire County Council, said: "It was a tremendous step forward for early recognition and implementation of trauma informed strategies within Our Early Help Service and it is immensely gratifying to see the work of our Early Help service recognised nationally.
"We are the only Early Help service to receive this national accreditation and could arguably be seen as a blueprint for other organisations and departments for trauma informed practice.
"This is a matter of great pride and I want to personally thank our officers and staff for their continuing efforts as they will continue to develop this part of the service."
Katherine Ashworth, Head of Service, Early Help, Lancashire County Council
Justin Srivastava, Trauma Informed Lead for Lancashire VRN said: “It has been a privilege to be working with like-minded professionals to bring about this culture change in Lancashire.
"Adapting a trauma informed approach to your work is an ever-evolving process and the VRN are proud to be here to support such an important change in behaviours.”
The full lists of organisations to be awarded the Working with Trauma Quality Mark are as follows:
- Applebee Wood Community Specialist School
- Red Rose Recovery
- Lathom High School
- Children and Family Wellbeing Service (Lancashire County Council)
- The Birchall Trust
- LSCFT – Reconnect
- Active Lancashire