Harrow Community Mental Health Hub Trauma-Informed-Approaches triage training and TIA stabilisation manual launch

During Spring, the Triage Team from Harrow Community Mental Health Hub (CMHH) undertook a three-day trauma-informed approaches (TIA) training. The sessions were led by Consultant Psychologist, Dr Faye Nikopaschos, Clinical Psychologist, Dr Natasha Mooney and Gbemisola Akinterinwa, Triage Team Manager. Guest facilitators, who supported the delivery of specialist training areas included Liliana Mandal (Borough Lead Occupational Therapist), Cleo Shalhoub (Hub Manager) and Dr Gareth Jarvis, Jameson Medical Director.

On 12 and 19 March, and 30 April, the team came together to celebrate their unique strengths and consider how they could develop their practice with training in all things trauma-informed. The training was focused on both Power-Threat Meaning and Open Dialogue frameworks, as well as providing space to reflect on how elements from these approaches could be embedded into the practices of the Triage team.

This training coincided with the launch of Version 3 of the CNWL TIA Stabilisation Manual and the team were among the first to get a copy of the newly updated manual!

On day 2, Dr Gareth Jarvis led the team through a fantastic half-day training on Open Dialogue, with space for team reflection on the use of open dialogue principles within triage assessments. The final day of training also included an experiential sensory experience led by Liliana Mandal. This provided the team with a unique understanding of how the seven human senses can be integrated into providing a trauma-informed approach.

Feedback from the team included appreciation of the stabilisation skills covered in the training, space and time to reflect and learn as a team, as well as learning about the Open Dialogue approach. Some of the feedback can be seen below:

“I came across things today I had never heard before and having a stabilisation manual to take away feels very helpful”

“I enjoyed the small discussions and opportunity to build more trust and be vulnerable with my colleagues”

“I enjoyed learning about open dialogue and see how to incorporate that in my work”

Well done Harrow Triage team – we can’t wait to see how you embed trauma-informed practices into your team as the first points of contact for the people and communities we work with!

You can view all the latest manuals on TIA here and read previous work on TIA here.

If you would like to purchase printed copies of The Stabilisation Manual (Version 3) from CNWL Harrow, for use in your service, please contact us here