City-Wide Trauma Awareness, Sensitivity and Healing Through Relationships
Cork City recognises that to achieve this ambitious and courageous goal of becoming a city that is Trauma- sensitive we need to embrace and embed a new approach to how we meet people. We are planting the seeds that will grow a city that is kind and inclusive. This is about caring, creating trustful relations and having in mind that difficult children do not exist, but many children are living under difficult conditions.
As a City we recognise that relationships are key, responsive relationships and supportive family and community environments have been shown to shape a child’s future well-being, development, educational engagement, and health (Romero et al ., 2018), and are indeed key to positive life outcomes (Campbell et al. , 2016). “As Cork continues to prosper as a Healthy City, a Learning City and a City of Sanctuary, it is crucial that an awareness and understanding of childhood trauma and the lifelong impacts of adverse child- hood experiences (ACEs) underpins its evolution. Putting children, young people and families front and centre in in service delivery across all organisations will strengthen the roots of Cork’s family and community life. Educating people working in the various sectors about ACEs through a self-guided learning continues the ground-breaking work already done to raise awareness in the city and will help lead to a Cork that is more inclusive, understanding and responsive to the needs of the more vulnerable among us.” Cllr Mick Finn, CETB and Former Lord Mayor Of Cork 2.2 Definition of Trauma and Trauma-sensitive Practice For the purposes of this strategy, trauma is defined at its core as an event(s), or a series of circumstances that are experienced as physically or emotionally harmful or life-threatening. It may overwhelm a person’s ability to cope and function which has a lasting adverse effect on their mental, physical, social, emotional, and/or spiritual well-being (Trauma and Justice Strategic Network; SAMSHA, 2014). Put simply, trauma is about the harmful experiences that people experience and the legacy of the impact.
Cork Trauma Sensitive City
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