Max Pickard

There is increased interest in trauma informed care in the UK and worldwide, however so far there are limited resources for professionals providing training to help health and social care staff (who may have had very little training in attachment theory) to provide care which is trauma informed at an emotional as well as practical level. The CaPLET Training Manual will guide facilitators in making the core psychodynamic concepts - which are relevant to providing trauma-informed care - accessible to health and social care staff. In addition, it will enable facilitators to help staff better understand the people they care for in the context of their histories of trauma and develop insight into the ways in which attending to their own emotional and behavioural responses can help them provide better care.

Trauma informed approaches have not generally been made available to staff working in services supporting people who have both a personality disorder and an intellectual disability. This distinctive training manual enables facilitators who already have some level of understanding of psychodynamic concepts to help support staff better understand the people they care for in the context of their histories of trauma, and their own emotional and behavioural responses. It offers professionals who are called on to support services (psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, nurses, occupational therapists etc) a standardised way of training and educating care staff in thinking about how best to provide support and a safe and supportive service to some of the most challenging clients. In doing so, it addresses contentious and challenging issues such as the terms 'personality disorder' and 'challenging behaviour', the traumatised carer and the difficulties of working competently with people who have complex emotional needs. Most importantly, it improves the understanding and confidence of staff in supporting their clients. The manual provides a course of three 2 hour sessions with guidelines and participant materials.