TTI partnership was a "morale boost" for Hope for the Young
For one London-based charity, taking up a package of organisational and one-to-one support from Trauma Treatment International (TTI) was a “no brainer”. And now, Hope for the Young (HftY) says the partnership has given its team a real morale boost, and that they would strongly recommend the process to others.
Hope for the Young works with young people who are refugees and asylum seekers, helping to remove obstacles to their education and well-being through mentoring, advocacy and financial support. The charity provides holistic, bespoke one-to-one support that ensures young people can move towards their goals, regardless of their starting point.
Ellie Alvarez (pictured), Hope for the Young’s Head of Programmes and Operations, explains that the charity first underwent a trauma-informed organisational review with TTI.
Undertaken by two of our clinical psychologists, the project aimed to recognise and respond to burnout, compassion fatigue and vicarious trauma amongst its staff, while maintaining the psychological wellbeing of its team and beneficiaries.
The package of support, which also included training sessions and one-to-one therapy for its young service users, was funded by City Bridge Foundation at no cost to Hope for the Young.
TTI was the “perfect partner”
Ellie says: “We work with young people who have experienced considerable trauma so TTI was the perfect partner for us. The package of support sounded amazing; it was a no-brainer for us to accept. As a small team with limited capacity and resources, it was exactly what we were after.
“The process of the organisational review was really straightforward from our side; we just needed to get the word out there for our team and young people to have their say. We felt like everyone was in very safe hands with the TTI team.”
Focus groups were held by two TTI clinical psychologists with a selection of young people, staff members and volunteers, with participants given the chance to write their feelings down anonymously if they wished. Several HftY documents were also shared and reviewed by TTI including staff wellbeing, safeguarding and equality policies.
A report was then produced by TTI giving Hope for the Young a series of strengths and recommendations for improvement in trauma-informed areas including safety, trust and empowerment.
Strengths and recommendations
Among the strengths outlined by young people was the “consistent, non-judgemental encouragement” they received from the Hope for the Young team, which they said helped them build confidence and stay motivated. Meanwhile, staff reported that there was a sense of collective togetherness and faith that their colleagues would “have their back”.
Elsewhere, the recommendations included developing a clarity of service offer to young people, and strengthening the charity’s position on advocacy and campaigning work.
The report concluded that Hope for the Young demonstrated a number of trauma-transformative approaches in its work. This is the highest possible level of trauma-informed practice, and means that the charity fosters deep individual and collective healing, transforming cycles of violence into inclusive wellbeing.
The report says: “Hope for the Young proactively ensures young people’s needs are met. It also supports the staff team to sustain their psychological well-being and mitigate the effects their work could have through the supportive spaces, policies, procedures and training they provide.”
Providing trauma transformative services
Ellie says that the report was a real “morale boost” for the team. “It was great to hear that we are trauma-transformative in places, especially coming from external professionals who are experts in their field,” she says. “We’re now working on our clarity of service document to ensure that our team knows where their boundaries lie and to ensure that they can switch off from work and prevent burnout.”
A portion of the City Bridge Foundation grant was spent on training sessions for HtfY staff, focusing on protecting their wellbeing and avoiding second-hand trauma. “It gave us some really useful practical tips about looking after ourselves in what can be a traumatic environment,” says Ellie.
“We were also able to refer some of our young people to TTI for one-to-one treatment which was amazing. Getting therapy for our young people is like gold dust, as many avenues aren’t specialist enough for them. Being able to refer them to TTI and have confidence that they were in the right place was such a relief.”
She adds: “I would say that a partnership with TTI is 100 per cent worth it for any organisation working with people going through trauma. We all felt like we were in safe hands and it felt like a very collaborative process. It was a great experience.”
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