Donna Chadwick

Business Development for Yale Housing and female pathway lead

In October 2020 I attended One Small Thing’s annual conference, OST LIVE. Although I have never attended this before, I have worked with a trauma-informed approach for over a decade with people affected by young-onset dementia and mental health challenges.

Not only did the conference provide me with fantastic information about the new Working with Trauma Quality Mark and Trauma Informed Network, but it also offered me an opportunity to be surrounded by like-minded people. I found out at the conference that One Small Thing offer trauma-informed awareness training and took this back to the team that I work alongside at Yale Housing - and two colleagues and the CEO booked their places.

After the conference, I also joined the regional Trauma Informed Network where I met new people who had completely embraced a trauma-informed approach within their organisations, who were talking about how crucial it was for the individuals that they support. I had the opportunity to discuss the approach, which was beneficial as we shared ideas and experiences around both what worked and what was challenging in the implementation of a trauma-informed approach.

At Yale Housing, our housing pathways have been designed with a trauma-informed approach in mind; however, we recognise that we still have a way to go and feel that the Working with Quality Mark will support us to move forward. I feel it will enable us to develop the service and our ways of working, ultimately meaning that the women we support will have appropriate, safe, holistic support - strengthened by the knowledge, resources, and networking that are available from One Small Thing.

If you would like to join one of the free Trauma Informed Network meetings, please register here.

To find out more about the Working with Trauma Quality Mark, please register here.