Trauma informed approaches and self-harm: Delivering a compassionate response   

Lowri Wyn Jones

Lowri Wyn Jones is the Programme Manager for Time to Change Wales. Working alongside a team across two partner organisations (Adferiad and Mind Cymru), she is responsible for the day-to-day management and strategic delivery of the programme in Wales. Time to Change Wales is the first national mental health anti-stigma campaign launched in 2012 with the aim of increasing positive attitudes towards mental health in Wales in the hope of reducing the direct discrimination encountered by people who face mental health problems. Working across communities, workplaces and services, Lowri’s work straddles policy, research and social marketing. Since 2015, Time to Change Wales has worked closely with employers across Wales who are supported to make a public pledge to tackle discrimination in the workplace, something which we know affects so many across the workforce in Wales. Some positive strides and tangible change has been achieved amongst the 250+ employers who have signed the pledge. At the heart of our campaign is a powerful social movement of champions who share their experience of living with mental health problems through formal and informal talks across workplaces in Wales. We know that these talks are an incredibly effective way of improving understanding and changing behaviours around mental health and in turn reduce the stigma. Time to Change Wales is active in the publishing vlogs, blogs and podcasts to shine a light on people’s mental health experiences.

Lowri joined the Time to Change Wales team in November 2016 having previously worked as an International Programme Manager at British Council Wales where her career spanned a period of 10 years working in arts and education sectors. Lowri has helped shape time to Change’s offer to employers in Wales working closely with Mind’s Workplace Wellbeing department. She is passionate about organisational psychology, and creating opportunities, challenging discrimination and bringing about social justice and change to those who need it most in our society.

Yvonne Raybone, MBACP (BA (Hons), LLM, MEd.). Advanced Clinical Practitioner for Traumatic Stress North Wales, Adult Mental Health, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB).

Yvonne Raybone is a qualified Integrative Counsellor, with many years of experience working therapeutically (one-to-one and group therapy) with adults with complex trauma following abuse and sexual violence in childhood and adulthood. Yvonne has previously worked over 10 years as an Independent Sexual Violence Advisor in the Amethyst Sexual Assault Referral Centre, North Wales, supporting people pre-, during and after the criminal justice system.  Yvonne is presently working as an Advanced Clinical Practitioner within the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board Traumatic Stress North Wales (TSNW) team – part of the Traumatic Stress Wales national initiative. TSNW’s focus is to strategically progress and develop trauma-informed practice and care within BCUHB adult mental health services. This includes improving quality, choice, and access to evidence-based trauma therapies. The work’s emphasis is on what has happened to a person in place of what is wrong with a person. It includes contributions and practice-based evidence drawn from the lived experiences of services, people, and communities of North Wales for understanding trauma and trauma-informed and what this means in the places in which people live, work, and access their local health provision. 

Dr Katie Brown (BSc (Hons), DCLINPSY) is Traumatic Stress Lead for Cwm Taff Morgannwg (CTM) University Health Board and a Clinical Psychologist.

Katie has worked within adult services throughout her career within the independent sector and NHS. The majority of Katie’s career has involved the delivery and development of trauma-informed, psychological ways of working within forensic services. More recently she is working as Traumatic Stress Wales Lead for Cwm Taff Morgannwg University Health Board, developing trauma-informed practice and the provision of efficient and streamlined pathways of support for individuals who have experienced trauma within the local area. Katie has a long-standing interest in supporting individuals, team and systems who have experienced trauma. Throughout her career she worked with individuals with severe and complex trauma, training in all the main evidence-based interventions for trauma. She is passionate about promoting compassionate trauma-informed care, driving quality improvement, and fostering meaningful culture change within organisations.