POLICE SET TO BE PART OF TRAUMA AWARE NATION
Ayrshire’s Police Division will be part of leading a campaign to make Scotland the world’s first “trauma- aware” nation.
In February this year, Divisional Commander, Chief Superintendent Paul Main announced that Ayrshire Division would become Trauma Informed.
Over 850 officers and staff are receiving training and awareness in Adverse Childhood Experiences ( ACEs) and toxic stress.
And the proposal for this is to help improve their response to people in distress and maximise opportunities to positively impact on local people and communities.
ACE’s are incidents which are stressful or traumatic including abuse and neglect, witnessing domestic violence or growing up with family members who abuse alcohol or drugs or who are incarcerated. Research indicates that as ACE’s increase so does the likelihood of poorer outcomes for that child including becoming a victim or perpetrator to violence. This can be reduced and mitigated by building resilience and having a trusted adult within their life who helps support them.
Chief Superintendent Main said: “It is important that we consider a different approach to how we work. We are seeing an increase in drug related deaths, suicides and people who are at risk of harm. Now that we have a greater understanding of the research and impact of trauma we all have to look seriously as to how we can all help prevent and break this cycle of poorer outcomes for those individuals who have been exposed to trauma.
“By becoming a Trauma Informed Division will not only ensure that officers and staff have an increased understanding of the impact of trauma but will help them in their approach, engagement and management of incidents involving children and young people as well as adults who have been exposed to traumatic incidents.”