Home > About us > Becoming Psychological, Adversity and Trauma-Informed (PAT) > Mental health training for workplaces and professionals
Become trauma-informed – Mental health training for workplaces and professionals
Build your team's confidence, strengthen your organisation, and create a safer, more engaged and inclusive workforce with our trauma-informed training, delivered by people with mental health expertise and lived experience.
We work with businesses and Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations to help them become more psychological, adversity, and trauma-informed.
Booking training with us helps to support our mental health services and reach more people. In 2024, we supported 4,678 clients with their mental health and housing needs. Our staff of over 300 people work across the South West in 25 services.
Jo is an incredible trainer, who combines her in-depth psychological knowledge with an easily accessible training style. I liked that the training also gave us the opportunity to think about and share practical ways to apply this knowledge in our services – I learned so much from the other participants."
I really enjoyed the training and approach taken. I learned a lot and liked all the opportunities for reflection and group discussion. I work with researchers so not participants directly, but I hope to bring this idea of giving participants control, alternatives and choices to my conversations with researchers and my own future research practice."
I understand more about the complexities of the concept of trauma at biopsychosocial level. For example, the window tolerance was really useful. It highlighted how many warning signs of vicarious trauma I have/am experiencing. I plan to try to address 'failure to nurture' non-work aspects of life!"
I had no previous experience or understanding of trauma-informed approaches so found this training really informative. I'll be taking the ideas from the training back to my team and continue to champion lived experience."
2,500+ learners equipped with trauma-informed knowledge & skills
96% of learners gave our training positive feedback
With years of experience delivering training to our own staff, teams and other organisations and sectors in the South West region, our training will equip you and your staff with both the knowledge and practical tools you need to implement trauma-informed principles in your own organisation.
When you become a more trauma-informed organisation, you:
Create a psychologically safe space where people can hold brave conversations and grow together.
Give people choice and clarity over their rights and responsibilities.
Encourage collaboration and embrace partnership - power is shared and everyone has a voice.
Build trustworthiness and transparency in your processes and communications.
Empower people by celebrating their efforts, strengths and achievements - people feel more motivated and engaged as a result.
Champion inclusivity, valuing diversity and actively addressing inequalities.
What are the benefits of becoming trauma-informed?
In this video, Rosalind Moreno-Parra, Senior Practitioner with Second Step, explains how implementing trauma-informed principles and approaches in your organisation can transform the experiences of your staff and clients:
Our training modules
All our training is coproduced with and facilitated by our internal training team, psychologists, and people with lived experience. Our courses involve three key components: theory, skills and lived experience.
If you don’t see a course that fits your needs or you’re not sure what’s right for you, please get in touch. We’re responsive to learner needs and always happy to help.
Find more information about our psychological, adversity and trauma-informed work here.
Visit our about us page here to find out more about our mental health support work.
Introduction to Trauma-Informed Approaches
For: Staff in mental health and social care settings
Duration: 4 hours
Working in a mental health or social care setting means regularly interacting with people who have faced adversity and trauma in their lives.
This course introduces what trauma and adversity means, why awareness is so important, and the impact experiences of trauma and adversity can have across a lifetime. We consider the risk of retraumatisation, explore pathways towards supporting resilience and growth, and show how a trauma-informed approach can be put into action.
Wellbeing at Work
For: Staff and managers in any work setting
Duration: 2 hours
This course introduces the Five Ways to Wellbeing, Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning, and Give, and shows you how to bring them into your daily life. Through activities and discussion, we will explore ways to boost emotional resilience, improve self-care, and forge deeper connections with others.
By the end, our aim is for participants to feel empowered to make small but significant changes to their lives that support their mental health and overall wellbeing.
Vicarious Trauma
For: Staff and managers in mental health and social care settings to enhance understanding of how working in the helping professions can impacts us.
Duration: 3 hours
Working in mental health can be very rewarding but it does come with its risks.
This course explores the causes and impacts of vicarious trauma and compassion fatigue in mental health work, offering practical ways to recognise, manage and reduce their effects on individuals, teams and organisations.
Trauma-Informed Organisations
For: Staff and managers wishing to explore how to support their organisation/services to become trauma informed.
Duration: Full day (6 hours)
Becoming a trauma-informed organisation goes beyond how we relate to our clients, it involves reassessing every aspect of how an organisation works.
This interactive course explores what it means to become a truly trauma-informed organisation, using the six trauma-informed principles to reflect on how we support staff, communicate, and create inclusive, safe, and empowering workplace cultures.
Trauma-Informed Research
For: Anyone involved in research who would like to understand how trauma-informed approaches can inform research methodology.
Duration: Full day (6 hours)
Research involving people who have experienced trauma and adversity requires sensitivity and care.
This course explores the impact of trauma on both participants and researchers, and how to reduce the risk of retraumatisation. It introduces trauma-informed methodologies, the influence of power dynamics, and considers how to improve participant involvement, particularly among overlooked and hard-to-reach groups.
Understanding People (Formulation Skills)
For: Staff and managers to gain an understanding of how PAT-informed theory supports quality practice and recovery outcomes.
Duration: Full day (9.30-4.30 with breaks)
This training enhances understanding of client presentations by drawing on psychological theory and developing key skills to support effective practice. Workers will be more able to identify ‘what has happened’ to clients in the past and how these experiences may have led to adaptations to survive various social adversities and trauma impacting their interaction with themselves, others and the world in the present.
Formulation is a constantly evolving process and is most valuable when co-produced with a person using services. The training has lots of group activities and the opportunity to try engaging in a team formulation with your training cohort.
The Relational Journey
For: Staff and managers to gain an understanding of how PAT-informed theory supports quality practice and recovery outcomes.
Duration: Full day (9.30-4.30 with breaks)
This training puts centre stage the importance of investing in the professional relationship that you form with clients to promote relational recovery and healing. We consider how all therapeutic relationships pass through stages of a relational journey. We consider attachment theory to aid understanding of how people may present and respond to situations according to past experiences in relationships.
By better understanding the needs of clients at different stages in the relational journey we can more compassionately and effectively work with clients to promote engagement, heal relational wounds and end helping relationships effectively to reduce the risk of retraumatisation.
Meet the trainers
Dr Joanna Davies
Head of Psychology | Psychological, adversity and trauma-informed (PAT) strategy lead
Nick Booth
Learning and Development Manager
Jo leads Second Step’s psychological, adversity and trauma-informed (PAT) strategy and trains and coaches staff and leaders to embed trauma-informed approaches across their teams and services. She also developed our highly successful PAT pioneer facilitators programme to upskill staff to deliver safe and effective reflective practice to teams across the organisation.
Jo brings a strong background of over 20 years in mental health and children’s social care, with extensive clinical knowledge and experience around working with trauma-related presentations and experiences, supervision, and designing and delivering organisational and system-wide change programmes.
Before moving into the voluntary sector, Jo held various roles within the NHS, spanning both primary and secondary mental health services. This experience gives her a deep understanding of varied, complex care environments and the importance of multidisciplinary cross-agency collaboration.
Together with Nick, and drawing on her wealth of real-world experience, Jo has developed engaging theoretical and practical training that empowers teams to drive sustainable quality improvements in service delivery to enhance client outcomes and staff morale and wellbeing.
Nick has dedicated his career to promoting social justice and addressing inequality and disadvantage through roles in both the voluntary and public sectors.
With over 25 years of experience in homelessness, substance use, and mental health and 18 years in teaching and training, Nick brings a wealth of knowledge and compassion to every session. His engaging facilitation style and deep expertise help create a safe, supportive space where participants can explore complex and sensitive topics with confidence.
Nick has developed and delivered mental health training at Second Step for five years, training hundreds of professionals in both frontline and strategic roles. His courses are grounded in real-world experience and designed to be practical, interactive, and immediately applicable.
Nick leads the learning and development team at Second Step and in collaboration with Dr Joanna Davies, Nick co-designs courses and the development of the psychological, adversity and trauma training for Second Step.
Rob Wright
Learning and Development Trainer
Rob brings a strong background in education and a deep commitment to mental health advocacy to his role as Staff Trainer at Second Step.
Since joining the organisation in 2016, Rob has held key positions including Team Manager at Bristol Wellbeing College, before stepping into his current role in 2019. Prior to Second Step, he spent many years in further education, teaching psychology and managing Access and A-level programmes at a Bristol college.
With a passion for learning and personal development, Rob designs and delivers training that is engaging, reflective, and rooted in both professional expertise and lived experience. He believes in the power of education to transform lives and is a firm believer that “every day is a school day”.
Rob lives in the South Wales Valleys with his Cocker Spaniel, Milo. Outside of work, he enjoys music, film, TV, and cooking.
Rosalind Moreno-Parra
Senior PAT Practitioner/Facilitator
With over 20 years' experience in mental health and 16 years in facilitation and training across the NHS, social care, voluntary, and business sectors, Rosalind brings deep expertise, creativity, and compassion to her facilitation.
She coproduced and lectured on the Peer Support Worker training programme for Exeter University’s Psychology Department, specialising in peer support and trauma-informed working. She currently lectures on power dynamics in mental health for the Mental Health & Wellbeing Practitioner course at Exeter.
At the Centre for Thriving Places, Rosalind delivered positive psychology and wellbeing training and consultancy across sectors. A trained transformational coach under Dr Sarah Madigan, she draws on training in Dramatherapy, group analysis, and counselling, integrating creativity with psychological insight.
Rosalind is passionate about coproduction, system change, recovery-oriented practice, and relational learning. She thoughtfully weaves lived experience into her training, championing shared learning and empowerment. When not working at Second Step, she works as a voiceover artist, sings Ladino and Latin music, and dances salsa.
Ellen Grieves
Senior PAT Practitioner/Facilitator
Ellen is a Senior Psychological, Adversity and Trauma-Informed (PAT) Practitioner with a background in community mental health, yoga facilitation and Nature and Health practice. She brings warmth, curiosity and a strong commitment to co-creating spaces where people feel safe, respected and able to learn together.
Drawing on her own lived experience and seven years’ professional practice, Ellen has spent the last three years specialising in trauma-informed approaches, delivering training across the South West and contributing to national conversations on ethical, relational and embodied practice.
At Second Step, Ellen coproduces and co-delivers trauma-informed training with people who have lived experience of mental health services. She also works with teams across the organisation to support staff wellbeing and embed a culture of psychological safety and collective care. She holds space with sensitivity and depth, making room for complexity and connection in all her work.
In her own time, Ellen is deepening her relationship with the natural world and pursuing studies in Ecopsychology.
Who we've worked with
Contact us
If you are interested in one of our training modules, please complete the enquiry form below and a member of our training team will be in touch shortly.