Posted on: 2 April 2025
The West Yorkshire Adversity, Trauma and Resilience (ATR) Knowledge Exchange 2025 brought together over 200 professionals, leaders and community voices on 25 and 27 March. Marking the halfway point in our 10-year ambition to become trauma-informed by 2030, the event celebrated significant progress while setting the stage for the next phase of transformation.
A movement in action
Since 2020, we have seen our trauma-informed commitment evolve from concept to movement, underpinned by many achievements including:
training over 3,000 professionals across multiple sectors- over 1,100 active users signed up to our digital hub providing resources and guidance
- launching navigator programmes to support individuals affected by trauma in healthcare and criminal justice settings
- introducing a train-the-trainer model, ensuring sustainable learning and long-term impact
- forging national and international partnerships, influencing policy and best practices beyond West Yorkshire
Tackling crucial issues
Discussions at the event addressed challenges, including:
the intersection of trauma and serious violence- impact of trauma on inclusion health and marginalised communities
- violence against women and girls and the role of trauma-informed responses
- deep-seated effects of racism and systemic inequalities
Personal stories and lived experiences reinforced the transformative power of trauma-informed approaches, demonstrating real-world impact across services and communities.
Looking ahead
With five years remaining in our journey, the next phase will focus on refining strategy and deepening impact. Future priorities outlined during the event include:
- targeted interventions using data-driven insights to address the most vulnerable populations
- enhanced evaluation frameworks, tracking effectiveness through performance metrics and real-world outcomes
workforce support and resilience, expanding training and wellbeing initiatives for professionals dealing with secondary trauma- strengthening place-based collaboration, ensuring system-level changes translate into tangible local benefits
- deepening work in serious violence prevention and criminal justice, building on trauma-informed policing and rehabilitation initiatives
- scaling trauma-sensitive education across all levels of learning institutions, equipping education colleagues to foster resilience in young people
- embedding lived experience at every stage, ensuring that individuals with direct experience of trauma help shape future policies and practices
Kelly Laycock, Violence Reduction Partnership Senior Programme Delivery Manager, said:
“We are not just changing systems, we are changing lives. The next five years must be about embedding a trauma informed approach at every level of society.”
Call to action
Emm Irving, Head of Improving Population Health, said:
“A trauma-informed West Yorkshire is not just an aspiration - it is becoming a reality. Every interaction is an opportunity to either reinforce harm or promote healing.
By turning understanding into action and being trauma informed at every level, we are driving meaningful change that will shape lives for generations to come.”
The Adversity, Trauma and Resilience Programme, run jointly with the West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership and the West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Partnership, organise the annual Knowledge Exchanges.
All the presentations are available on the Adversity, Trauma and Resilience Knowledge Exchange site.