co - presenter

Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a major public university in a large post-industrial city in the north of England. The university has a strong, distinct focus on applied learning, vocational education, and graduate employability. It is one of the UK’s largest universities, with a student population of approximately 32,000. The university is a top UK provider of graduate training for teachers, health and social care professionals and the creative industries.  It trains approximately 1,000 new teachers each year on its core programmes across all age phases of education.
In this session we will share how trauma informed practice came to Sheffield Hallam University, how we have applied the approach and our aspirations for future work. It will describe how Early years specialists introduced trauma informed practice, and how the knowledge and the momentum grew across multiple domains throughout the university. We will explore some of the challenges and barriers as well as the opportunities grasped by the willing and the ambitious.
Beginning pre-Covid, we will outline how the work was initially predominantly centred in the core Initial Teacher Education provision but was soon extended and became integrated into the Civic work of the university with partners and in communities. We will share two specific examples of trauma informed work that helped children, families and young people cope with the pandemic and its aftermath. As the positive impact of trauma informed practice became clear, we will outline how the call for awareness and action was taken up across multiple disciplines as well as in student support and wellbeing. Finally, we will reflect on the need for further action to address our current challenges in a world of change and insecurity.