New Resource on Trauma-Informed Care For Women

Agenda welcomes the publication of an important new resource on trauma-informed care for women, released today.

The production of the resource, Engaging with complexity: providing effective trauma-informed care for women, was one of the commitments outlined by the Women’s Mental Health Taskforce, which Agenda co-chaired with Minister for Mental Health Jackie Doyle-Price MP. The Taskforce called for trauma-informed care to be more widely used across mental health services.

The resource, produced by Centre for Mental Health and the Mental Health Foundation in collaboration with the Association of Mental Health Providers, the National LGB&T Partnership and the Race Equality Foundation, provides public services with a guide to the principles of trauma-informed care and how to put them into practice.

Jemima Olchawski, Chief Executive of Agenda, says:

“Engaging with complexity is an important resource setting out the steps services and commissioners can take to address trauma in women.

“Women experience trauma differently to men and that is why it is vital that the care they receive responds to their particular needs.

“This piece of work, one of the key commitments outlined in the Women’s Mental Health Taskforce report, explains why trauma-informed care can be so effective in supporting women.

“We hope that it will encourage public services and commissioners to take action and implement trauma-informed care as a priority.

“Meanwhile, we will continue to ensure that the valuable work of the Women’s Mental Health Taskforce is taken forward and built on, so that women can get the support they need when they need it.”

Mental ill-health among women has increased in recent years and there are close links between mental health and trauma among women, for example more than half of women with a common mental disorder have experienced abuse.

The resource, commissioned by the Voluntary Community and Social Enterprise Health and Wellbeing Alliance, is based on the experiences and views of women with lived experience, as well as services providers, researchers and commissioners.

It builds on the set of gender and trauma-informed principles designed by the Women’s Mental Health Taskforce to support services and commissioners in their work to improve women’s experiences of mental health services.

The Women’s Mental Health Taskforce was formed in 2017 and is based at the Department of Health and Social Care. It identified priorities for women’s mental health and made recommendations for improving outcomes for women. It was co-chaired by minister for mental health Jackie Doyle-Price MP and Katharine Sacks-Jones, Chief Executive of Agenda (on maternity leave).

Find out more about Agenda’s Women in Mind mental health campaign.