Trauma-informed care: from theory to practice (DAB004)
Explore the principles of trauma-informed care and how to implement the approach in your setting
This 12-week online course, newly improved and updated for 2026, explores the rationale and principles of trauma-informed care and how the approach can be implemented across the health and care sector.
Through an interactive platform and live seminars, you will explore the core psychological processes involved in trauma and discover how an understanding of these can enhance your day-to-day frontline practice and service development. Guided by an expert tutor in a safe and supportive learning environment, you will be encouraged to reflect on your own practice and work area through a trauma-informed lens.
On completing the course, you will have an increased awareness of the impact of trauma and the confidence to apply a trauma-informed approach in your own setting. You will also have the chance to formulate a trauma-informed action plan for your own workplace, on which you will receive expert feedback from the course tutor and support in implementing it to create real change and impact in your organisation.
Want to learn more? Watch open event recording.
Aims and learning objectives
Throughout the training, you will:
- broaden your understanding of trauma, including complex trauma and developmental adaptation to trauma
- recognise and appreciate the range of impacts that trauma has upon survivors’ wellbeing and life chances
- reflect upon your practice, your service and the wider system through the lens of trauma-experienced individuals
- consider how the principles of trauma-informed care can be applied to create safety, promote engagement and provide a context of recovery for trauma-experienced individuals
- use your awareness of trauma, and its psychological impact, to adapt your practice, service delivery, review processes and promote recovery from trauma
- develop the confidence to contribute to a trauma-informed culture within your setting
- critically reflect on the personal, professional and societal implications of what you have learned and the wider context in which trauma-informed care needs to be considered
Who is this course for?
This course is best suited for frontline workers, team managers and service/programme leads in the health, social support or education sectors. It’s applicable for those working with children, young people and adults, and whilst some health and social care experience is useful, it is not essential.
You might be working in these sectors or roles:
- primary health care including GPs
- acute or hospital care including advanced practitioners and clinical leads
- mental health care including therapists, counsellors, psychiatrists, psychologists and psychotherapists
- public health
- CAMHS and working with parents and families
- social care and community support
- teaching and education
- youth services
- addiction and substance misuse services
- settings that support domestic abuse survivors
- charities and volunteering
- criminal justice and probation services
- research, transformation and strategy
- local government services
Learners from a wide range of areas have successfully completed this course including those who work with autism, disability, housing, rough sleeping, sexual health, violence, speech and language, arts, music and spiritual leadership.
The course will support you in understanding and responding to the impact of trauma on service users and the steps needed to establish foundations for recovery and healing. It is ideal for those seeking to develop trauma‑informed awareness and make a real workplace impact, with the opportunity to submit a tailored action plan and receive expert feedback.
If you are looking for an overview of the basis, rationale and principles of trauma-informed care, with live tuition you may wish to consider our alternative Trauma-informed care: using trauma awareness to enhance everyday practice course.
We would also be keen to hear from you if you would be interested in discussing bespoke live training options for your staff. This could be either as an alternative to this course or as a follow-on to embed or expand upon the learning from the online course. Please contact us at CPDevents@tavi-port.ac.uk to find out more.
Course details
This course will be hosted online via the learning platform Moodle and will run for 12 weeks, comprising two six-weeks blocks with a break in the middle.
We recommend that you spend between five and ten hours of study per week, depending on your personal learning style. This will include a series of four 1.5-hour live seminars spread across the 12-week course and weekly self-study time, essential reading, experiential exercises, forum discussion, reflective practice and knowledge checks.
In addition, you will need to spend time researching and writing your optional assignments in weeks 6 and 12 (500 and 2,500 words respectively), if you choose to partake, which we strongly encourage. Given the flexibility of online learning, learners can study at whatever time, pace and location that best fits their professional and personal commitments.
To learn more about the course structure, watch this short clip from Dr Sheena Webb.
The next course will run as follows:
Course start date: 27 April 2026
Live seminar dates
- Session 1/4: Wednesday 29 April 2026, 1pm – 2.30pm (UK time)
- Session 2/4: Wednesday 3 June 2026, 1pm – 2.30pm (UK time)
- Session 3/4: Wednesday 15 July 2026, 1pm – 2.30pm (UK time)
- Session 4/4: Wednesday 29 July 2026, 1pm – 2.30pm (UK time)
Places will be assigned on a first come, first served basis to suitable applicants. We therefore advise you to apply as soon as possible to avoid disappointment.
This course will introduce you to thinking reflectively about your experiences and how this impacts your work with trauma. Through self-reflection and experiential exercises, you will consider how an understanding of psychological trauma has evolved over the past century and the implications this has for survivors of trauma. You will analyse the evidence linking trauma with psychosocial outcomes and learn how services can evolve to meet the needs of survivors.
You will be encouraged to explore the rationale for trauma-informed systems and learn how to critically evaluate trauma-informed care in the broader context of the systems in which you operate, and the intersectionalities that affect those with whom you work. You will be invited to think about diversity and structural inequality and how this can exacerbate trauma for individuals and groups.
If you’re a frontline practitioner, manager or service lead working in any health or social support sector, you will find the course particularly relevant in supporting you to understand and respond to the impact of trauma on service users, spending time on how to establish foundations for recovery and healing.
Throughout the course you’ll discover how you can share and implement your learnings so that you can create a trauma-informed culture in your workplace.
The course will combine an academic and practical approach to engage students and you will need to be prepared for reading academic texts.
Assessment
During the course, you will participate in weekly quizzes. To receive a course completion certificate, you must complete all the course content and satisfy the 60% minimum pass rate for each of the quizzes.
At the end of week 12, you can choose to submit an optional written assignment and receive a full Trust certificate. There’s no grading on this final assignment, but it will be considered and reviewed by the tutor, who will provide written feedback. The assignment consists of a 2,500 word trauma-informed action plan or case study which demonstrates how the principles of trauma-informed care can be applied to your workplace – whether a situation, process, relationship or aspect of your role.
Planning and preparation for the written assignment will be incorporated throughout the 12 weeks and form part of your weekly tasks. You will receive support in choosing your topic through the seminar in week six and the discussion forum. At the end of this week, you can consider your topic for the final written assignment and upload a 500-word piece for the tutor to review and add feedback.
Included in your course fee, you will receive online membership to the Tavistock’s internationally renowned library for one year. Our friendly and knowledgeable library team will help to support you through your specialist CPD course, whatever your level of professional or academic experience. You will have access to an extensive online range of eBooks, journals, all the relevant key databases and our specialist audio-visual collection.
Why study with us?
The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust has been at the forefront of exploring mental health and wellbeing for over 100 years. We bring our extensive experience to this course as the only NHS Trust to be registered as a Higher Education Provider by The Office for Students. This means your learning will be grounded in practice and real life application. We have made our training accessible and available to everyone to explore in your own time, at your own pace. Find out more.
Testimonials
Course facilitators
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Sheena Webb
Clinical psychologist
Accreditations
This course has been independently evaluated for Continuing Professional Development purposes by the CPD Certification Service. This means that the learning activity meets global CPD standards and benchmarks, and the learning value has been scrutinised to ensure integrity and quality.
Apply now
To apply for this course, please submit an application form using the ‘Apply Now’ button. Once you have submitted your form, the course team will review your application within two to four weeks of your application being made. No interviews or references are required. If you are successful in being offered a place you will need to book, and pay for, your place as soon as possible, otherwise it may be offered to someone else. You can pay for this course by invoice or by debit/credit card. This will need to be via a one-off online payment during the booking process. Unfortunately we are unable to arrange instalment payments for this course. Sponsorships from employers are welcome – please obtain a purchase order from your organisation which you will need to upload when making your online booking. Please contact digitalacademy@tavi-port.ac.uk if you need a quote to support the production of a purchase order.
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