How do we create a trauma-informed nation?
This panel brings together perspectives on systems change, public narrative, partnership working, implementation and language to explore Wales’ journey towards becoming a trauma-informed society. Through discussions of social movements, storytelling, relational leadership and shared meaning-making, speakers will examine how trauma-informed principles can be embedded across public services, communities and everyday life, highlighting the collective action needed to achieve lasting societal change.
Chair: Dr Joanne Hopkins, Public Health Wales
Dr Joanne Hopkins, Public Health Wales
This presentation introduces the Rhizome Approach, an innovative application of a Theory of Change that reflects the complex, interconnected nature of societal transformation. Inspired by the concept of a rhizome, where growth occurs through multiple connections and pathways, the approach has been used to support collaboration between public health, law enforcement and wider partners working towards a trauma-informed Wales.
The session explores how this model has helped mobilise action across sectors, build shared ownership of change and create the conditions for a social movement that extends beyond organisational boundaries. By embracing complexity, relationships and emergence, the Rhizome Approach offers practical insights into how diverse stakeholders can align around a common vision while maintaining flexibility and responding to local needs. The presentation highlights lessons learned from applying Theory of Change in a way that supports whole-system transformation and collective action towards becoming a trauma-informed nation.
Lauren Hopkins, Public Health Wales
Drawing over 3 years of engagement with communities, and partner organisations, the session explores how meaningful conversations helped shape a narrative that reflects diverse perspectives from across Wales. The evolution of the project will be discussed, from early pilot conversations inspired by various engagement models, to co-produced workshops with community members and public sector partners. The presentation highlights the role of storytelling, inclusive engagement and accessible language by offering practical insights to anyone interested in engagement and creating meaningful opportunities for participation.
The narrative sets out a vision for a Wales in which everyone understands and realises the benefits of what it means to be trauma-informed in their everyday life – from daily interactions to specialist services. This narrative sets a tone for how we can all promote the need for a trauma-informed nation.
Useful Resources
Delivering a Public Narrative for a Trauma-Informed Wales
Developing and Delivering a Public Narrative for a Trauma-Informed Wales event highlights
Joseff Bromwell, Public Health Wales
We cannot keep doing the same things and get a different result. The Trauma-informed Wales Framework (2022) set out a shared, co-produced vision for Wales to become a trauma-informed nation. Delivering this vision requires more than promoting the Framework’s principles, it requires modelling them in the way implementation is led, governed and experienced, while still ensuring accountability, transparency and effective use of public funding. At the heart of implementation is a commitment to ensuring that the Framework’s values are not only understood, but actively experienced by everyone involved in delivering it. This approach seeks to create a culture where collaboration, trust, safety and inclusion shape decision-making at every level, supporting a truly whole-system, all-of-society response.
Adopting a relational approach has challenged traditional ways of working and encouraged greater reflection across the organisations involved. By creating space for honest conversation, shared learning and constructive challenge, the programme has begun to reshape how leadership, governance and partnership working are experienced. Trauma-informed practice is not just about what we do, but how we do it. Building relationships, sharing power and creating psychologically safe spaces can be challenging within established governance systems, but these approaches are essential to sustaining long-term commitment to the vision of a trauma-informed Wales.
Useful Resources
Connie Williams, Public Health Wales
Trauma-informed approaches are increasingly embedded across public health, education, and social care systems. Despite this growth, the language used to communicate these principles is not neutral or universally understood. Differences in interpretation can lead to confusion, diluted meaning, or superficial adoption, limiting the effectiveness of these approaches in practice. This highlights the need to better understand how terminology influences engagement and implementation.
This presentation examines how trauma-informed language is interpreted across sectors in Wales, with a focus on whether consistent terminology is necessary and how meaning-making processes can be improved. Drawing on interdisciplinary literature from trauma-informed practice, linguistics, and cultural theory, the analysis explores how language shapes both understanding and application of key principles. It considers whether a shared vocabulary supports clarity or whether flexibility is more beneficial in diverse professional contexts.
Conclusions indicate that a strictly standardised set of terms is less important than achieving a shared conceptual understanding of trauma-informed principles. Rigid or prescription language can create barriers, alienating practitioners and service users who may not relate to the terminology or who operate within different cultural or organisational contexts. In contrast, adaptable, context-sensitive language enables individuals and organisations to interpret and apply trauma-informed principles in ways that are meaningful within their specific settings.
Useful Resources
Being Trauma-Informed: Language, Meaning, and Culture in Wales