OUR Generation is excited to announce the return of Transgenerational Trauma Awareness Day (TTAD) on Thursday 15th December 2022

We launched TTAD in 2021, as we noticed that there was an awareness day in the calendar for all sorts of things, except Transgenerational Trauma.

OUR Generation was set up to provide unique opportunities for communities, north, and south of the border, to work together to halt the transgenerational impact of trauma and to build emotional resilience and peace for generations to come.

So we hope that TTAD will be an annual event in the calendar and become a lasting legacy of the project.

Once again, we will be holding our TTAD22 Talk event as a FREE online webinar. Join us on the day from 1.30 pm -3.30 pm to hear from our panel of speakers, followed by a short Q&A.

The event will be recorded and made available to view online at a later date.

This year’s theme is ‘Breaking the cycle.’ You can also get involved and help support TTAD by using and sharing our social media graphics – download our  Social media pack.

 

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Webinar: TTAD TALK, Thurs 15th December,

1.30 pm – 3.30 pm

David Babington, Chief Executive of Action Mental Health, will reprise his role as host of our TTAD TALK webinar, and attendees can expect a short introduction from Mental Health Champion for Northern Ireland Professor Siobhan O’Neill of Ulster University, who was a keynote speaker at last year’s inaugural TTAD webinar.

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Speakers

Deirdre McLaughlin, Connected for Life

Deirdre McLaughlin established Connected for Life with her colleague, Marie Blaney, in 2016. Deirdre is a psychology graduate, social worker, and systemic practitioner with many years of experience in a range of settings, including Youth Justice, in both practice and management roles. She is also a part-time lecturer in Social Work and Health and Social Care at Belfast Metropolitan College.

Connected for Life aims to raise awareness of the far-reaching impact of trauma and adversity on individuals, families, organisations, and communities and to support those impacted. They do so through providing a range of services for individuals, families, parents, professionals, organisations, and communities, including presentations, training, and consultation as well as developing and delivering a range of interventions.

For TTAD22, Deirdre will present The Story of Peter and Paul, which has recently been adapted and included as a contribution to Dr. Karen Treisman’s book ‘A Treasure Box for Creating Trauma-Informed Organisations’.  It shares the stories of two young men who both experienced childhood adversity and trauma, but their lives took different trajectories. The story is based on Deirdre and Marie’s experiences of working for decades in the Justice system and seeing intergenerational patterns of violence and offending, attachment, adversity and trauma.

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Lorna Aitken, Senior Education Officer, Education Scotland & Gail Nowek, Principal Psychologist at North Ayrshire Council

Lorna Aitken is a Senior Education Officer in the Inclusion, Wellbeing & Equalities Team within Education Scotland with a lead role in wellbeing, trauma informed practice, safeguarding and child protection.

Gail Nowek is the Principal Educational Psychologist in North Ayrshire Council but previously worked as a lead for nurture, trauma-informed and relational approaches in the Inclusion Team within Education Scotland.

Lorna and Gail will speak about the recent Education Scotland report Nurture, Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma Informed Practice: Making the links between these approaches which looked at the Scottish education system and its focus on well-being approaches to supporting children and young people.

Understanding how early experiences impact children and young people’s behaviour and the importance of relationships in shaping later outcomes is the foundation that underpins much of the Scottish policy landscape and curriculum. Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) recognises that children and young people will have different experiences in their lives, but every child and young person has the right to expect appropriate support from adults to grow, develop, and reach their full potential.

Lorna will provide some context to the landscape of education in Scotland, and Gail will discuss the nurturing and trauma-informed approaches being taken forward in Scotland with some specific examples in a local authority context.

We expect a fascinating insight into the Scottish model and links to transgenerational trauma through attachment theory.

→Click here to sign up for the webinar←