Written by Alex Stewart and Robyn Butler
At Second Step, like many other organisations, we are on a journey to becoming trauma-informed – this means for the clients we support the staff who work in our services, and at all levels of the organisation, right up to our Board of Trustees.
All of our work is underpinned by the six Psychological, Adversity and Trauma-Informed (PAT) principles:
Safety, Choice & Clarity, Collaboration, Trustworthiness & Transparency, Empowerment and Inclusivity.
In Somerset, we are really proud to be leaders in this work. Here’s a little bit of information about how we do that:
We deliver Step Together across Somerset – an innovative service that offers a PAT-informed approach to those rough sleeping/at risk of homelessness with multiple disadvantage and complex needs (mental health, forensic history, substance use). We also advocate for system change, creatively thinking with other agencies to develop innovative ways to overcome barriers to engagement, turning these into opportunities to steer positive trauma-informed system change. Originally commissioned in 2019 by Somerset Council, we are delighted to announce that we were successfully recommissioned in April 2026, and will continue to offer PAT-informed, relational support.
Alongside our client-facing service, we also deliver the Trauma-Informed training contract for Housing and Homelessness services in Somerset.
We are also core members of the Open Mental Health alliance, and are excited to lead the Trauma-Informed workstream for OMH. We have co-produced the Trauma-Informed Strategy with partners and experts by experience, which is about becoming a trauma Informed partnership and improving the understanding and experience of all people using services and staff, so that we deliver trauma informed services, support staff wellbeing, and continue to learn and develop best practice. Within this, we identified key priority areas:
- To establish cross partnership awareness of trauma and adversity through leadership training and having TI Champions.
- To develop trauma sensitive practice and skills through Creative Thinking Spaces and staff training
- To develop our partnership and individual agency responsiveness to trauma and adversity by integrating this knowledge within leadership structures, culture, language, protocols, procedures, and practice across OMH (not just service delivery)
One of our key focuses at the moment is integration, conceiving Somerset as one system, rather than systems working in silo. In OMH and Step Together, we collaborate on delivering our organisational PAT strategy in Somerset, including offering PAT-Informed Approaches training, Creative Thinking spaces, a Somerset Community of Practice, and other reflective contexts to practitioners and leaders, to support system change across Somerset.
While we work with the adults’ workforce, we are really excited about the possibilities of integration with the children’s workforce and Trauma-Informed Somerset too!