October 11, 2021. News

VRU pilots trauma informed awareness training with Reading police officers

The Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit, together with the Reading children services organisation Brighter Futures for Children, contributed to a training session for officers from Thames Valley Police to help raise awareness of the impact of trauma and adverse childhood experiences on young people.

The training was delivered to around 30 officers and staff from the Reading Local Policing Area, as part of their “Teams in Action” development session.  The training was for those who hold a management role, giving an introductory overview of trauma and its impacts. They will be able to share their learning within their teams.

They learnt about the importance of early years in a child’s development, how risk factors such as exposure to domestic violence, neglect or abuse and exploitation can influence the way a person goes on to behave and how certain brain conditions such as autism can also influence developmental learning and behaviours.   

There is a growing recognition that early experiences in childhood can have a profound physical and emotional effect upon a child’s development, creating risk factors which can change a person’s outcomes – both in their own health and the way they behave, with links to increased risk of offending.

Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit has adopted the need to be fully trauma informed and to embed trauma informed practices into our work, and to support our partners to do similar.

You can learn more about trauma informed approaches by reading the blog from one of our local partners, the Oxford Brain Story at the University of Oxford.