1. Clinical Initiative: Improving Practice & Outcomes for Service Users

Clinical interventions can take many forms. They may involve direct therapy, guided self help or working systemically through teams or families, and reflect the most critical approach of reducing the impact of trauma and wider mental health presentations that often co occur.

Wider clinical initiatives that address the holistic impact of trauma that improve quality of life, through improving physical health, increasing life skills, social connections, education or employment opportunities are both necessary and highly valued priorities by service users.

Just as clinical interventions play a pivotal role in our responses to either prevent respond to trauma exposure, so must our efforts to ensure that we are offering interventions that are safe and effective, for different populations.

Evaluations of clinical practice can reflect large scale multi centre controls trials led by research teams, or local service evaluations, led by clinicians and services.

The importance of service evaluations is often overlooked in the trauma literature, yet they are of critical importance to reducing the gap between evidence and practice and developing practice based evidence.

They also often reflect work with populations who are not represented in the wider trauma literature and, as such, are critical to ensuring that the needs of marginalised populations are considered.

Service evaluations are often the most translatable into clinical services and we very much welcome submissions from local initiatives.

2. Clinical Initiative That Provides Professional Development or Improves Support for Staff Groups Working With Trauma Populations.

Healthcare professionals and first responders staff groups who work with trauma-exposed populations are dedicated and passionate individuals, often working in challenging environments. Working effectively with trauma exposed populations requires ongoing professional development and support. Well designed training or supervision, derived from evidence and evaluated for its effectiveness

This field of work is incredibly fulfilling, and it can also affect the well-being of those assisting trauma survivors. It is vital that we support staff, for their own wellbeing and to ensure that we continue to provide functional and healthy services. As such, it is crucial to offer staff effective support to prevent challenges, alleviate distress, enhance well-being, and tackle the underlying causes of distress to avoid future issues. Ongoing investments in public and private sectors to promote and protect staff wellbeing, and the continued high profile of occupational distress is key to ensuring the wellbeing of the workforce. However, this will only be achieved if initiatives to improve wellbeing are grounded in theory and evidenced, to ensure they are effective.

3. Clinical or Research Initiative Demonstrating Strong Coproduction / Lived Experience Components That Improve Outcomes for Service Users

Peer led or co-produced research and clinical innovations are increasingly being recognised as key to improving our understanding of trauma and in shaping services and clinical priorities. It emphasizes the value of experiential knowledge twinned with traditional expertise leading to a more nuanced understanding of trauma.

At the same time these voices and experiences can be underutilized or invisible without committed actions, imaginative individuals, expansive leadership and "trauma informed" organizations. The process is an adventure in managing risk for the potential rewards (better outcomes) while offering both challenge and support.

This award is assessing the effective, significant and constructive participation and influence of EBEs and quality of partnership working (reciprocity and investment). It is about meaningful ‘doing with.’

4. Early Stage Career Research Award: Applied Research That Focuses on Improving Understanding Psychological Trauma

A rich understanding of the way in which trauma presents and the experiences underpinning the emergence of trauma symptoms in those requiring support from healthcare services is critical to informing effective approaches in working with and addressing the holistic needs of service user populations.

The integration of research with clinical practice reflects a necessary interface for the delivery of quality care that is empirically informed by robust real-world data and evidence.

Accordingly, generating research that bears great potential for meaningful impact on the experiences of and outcomes for people in healthcare services, whether as a user or provider, is arguably a central responsibility held by clinicians, academics and researchers in the field.

5. Established Career Award: Applied Research That Focuses on Improving Understanding Psychological Trauma

In addition to recognising and encouraging initial entrance into the clinical research sphere, we are equally keen to recognise and celebrate the work of individuals with an established portfolio of research, who continue to show an outstanding commitment to the advancement of the psychological trauma field.

Within recent years, the psychological trauma field has seen some innovative and trail-blazing research by pioneers in this area. Research which significantly contributes to current understandings of and ways of effectively working with psychological trauma in clinical care will be considered for this research award category. Significance may be demonstrated through the devising and addressing of pertinent research questions, or via the development and application of novel and notable research methods.

Please note that all submissions for this category must be able to demonstrate evidence that the submitted work to which the award application relates has been subject to a peer-reviewed publishing process. For example, peer-reviewed, published journal articles or book chapters would be eligible for this award category. Self-published articles and guidelines that have not been derived from empirical research data or processes will not be considered.