Report of the Director of Public Health

This report is an update to a report considered at the meeting of the committee 21 July 2021 on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Trauma Informed Practice. The report covers the wide range of activities to deliver the stated ambition of Manchester being an ACE aware, trauma informed and trauma responsive City.

The Committee considered the report of the Director of Public Healththat updated the Members to the report considered at the meeting of the Committee on 21 July 2021 on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and Trauma Informed Practice. The report covered the wide range of activities to deliver the stated ambition of Manchester being an ACE aware, trauma informed and trauma responsive City.

Key points and themes in the report included:

·         Providing an introduction and background;

·         An update on progress and initiatives across a range of settings;

·         Case studies;

·         Responses to the strategy consultation; and

·         Next steps.

Some of the key points that arose from the Committee’s discussions were: -

·         Welcoming the progress reported, noting the importance and value of Trauma Informed Practice;

·         Noting that the report was very accessible and well presented;

·         What more could the Council do to support this programme;

·         Those Members who had undertaken the training spoke positively of their experience and the benefits realised as a result;

·         How could Members support the establishment of Community Hubs in their respective wards;

·         The need to represent the diversity of all Manchester residents in the strategy refresh consultation; especially BAME communities;

·         The Children and Young People Scrutiny Commmittee should consider an item on Adverse Childhood Experiences & Trauma Informed Practice and Education;

·         All Councillors should undertake the ACE Training;

·         How would progress and outcomes of the programme be measured and reported;

·         Training should be delivered as widely as possible; and

·         A break down by ward and ethnicity of the training delivered to date was requested.

The Programme Lead responded by saying that Members could support the programme by keeping this subject on their agenda, keep talking about the programme and continue the conversations on the subject. He advised that they were keen to increase the number of Community Hubs and would pick up the offer of support from the Member outside of the meeting, adding that the intention was to have one in each neighbourhood. In terms of groups to be included in the consultation exercise again he would speak with the Member outside of the meeting.

The Programme Lead advised that they did engage with the Healthy Schools Programme and this activity was regularly reported to the Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee. He commented that the programme had been well received in Primary Schools settings; however, he acknowledged the challenges and pressures experienced in Secondary School settings.

In terms of measuring the impact of the work, both quantitative and qualitative, the Programme Lead advised that resource has been acquired from the City Council research team to support this and an outcomes framework was being developed. He added that Liverpool John Moores University were also assisting with the agreeing of the metrics for this purpose. The Director of Public Health added that outcomes would also be captured in the Build Back Fairer reports that were considered by the Committee.

The Committee then heard from Dr Lucie Donlan, GP partner, West Gorton Medical Centre and Juanita Margerison, Director, the Resonance Centre who both spoke of how they used Trauma Informed Practice in their respective settings and the many benefits that this achieved for residents.

The Committee then heard from Councillor Doswell, Trauma Informed Lead Member who described her personal experience of ACE and the importance of Trauma Informed Practice. She described the actions she had taken since being recently appointed as Lead Member, including attending workshops and reading extensively on this subject area. She stated that she would be calling for all Council Youth and Play commissioned services to be trained in Adverse Childhood Experiences & Trauma Informed Practice, all Neighbourhood Teams staff to be fully trained and she supported the call for all Councillors to be fully trained. She concluded by paying tribute to all staff working on this important programme.

The Executive Member for Healthy Manchester and Adult Social Care supported the call for all Councillors to undertake the Adverse Childhood Experiences & Trauma Informed Practice training. He further thanked the Committee for championing this programme.

Decision

Recommend that the Adverse Childhood Experiences & Trauma Informed Practice training is mandatory for all Councillors.