The Sussex Trauma-Informed Practice Framework has been created to support people across health and social care to build safer, more compassionate, and more effective services. It recognises the impact that trauma, adversity, and inequality can have—not only on the people we support, but on the workforce and the wider system.

This framework isn’t a policy or a checklist. It’s a practical guide developed with frontline staff, leaders, and people with lived experience to help teams reflect on how they work, make improvements, and build stronger, more inclusive cultures.

It is built around six key themes: leadership and culture, environment and systems, workforce wellbeing, co-production and lived experience, communication and language, and commissioning and governance. Each section includes principles, objectives, and reflective questions you can apply in your everyday work—whether you're on the frontline, in supervision, or leading change.

The aim is to help services think differently, work across boundaries, and support people more effectively—especially those who have experienced trauma or face multiple disadvantages.

Whatever your role, this framework is for you. It’s a shared starting point for doing things differently, together.