Systems Generated Trauma ~ survey
Cerebra and the University of Leeds are collaborating on research that seeks to better understand the extent to which parents of disabled children experience trauma as a result of navigating the various social welfare and education systems with which they have to engage. As part of this, Cerebra would be pleased if parent carers could consider completing a short survey that can be accessed by clicking here.
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Systems Generated Trauma ~ explained
Apologies for the jargon (it will be brief) but we are interested in the extent of ‘Systems Generated Trauma’ (explained below), because many health and social care bodies are publishing local policy documents advocating ‘Trauma related practice’ or ‘Trauma informed care’.
In themselves, documents of the ‘Trauma related practice’ kind are to be welcomed (but, there is a ‘BUT’). They are welcome, as (at the very least) they convey an awareness that many of those who interact with public bodies have experienced life changing traumas. As a rule, the traumas referred to in these documents, are ‘other’ – in the sense that they are the result of adverse childhood experiences, domestic violence, mental health difficulties and so on. BUT, what is not generally acknowledged, is that many people seeking support identify their most traumatising experiences as the way they were treated by the public bodies that they had approached for support.
‘Systems Generated Traumas’ of this kind are a daily experience for many people in contact with the social welfare system, including carers, disabled people, people who are homeless, mothers in dysfunctional maternity units, claimants in the hostile environments created by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) or the Home Office and so on.
There are a myriad of intersecting examples, but for parents of disabled children these can include: being prosecuted when their disabled child is ‘school refusing’; being refused support by children’s services when in desperate need, but then having their home inspected and their children interviewed for child protection purposes; being accused of fabricating or inducing their child’s illness (FII) because they have requested a second opinion from a health professional; being unable ‘to access justice’ to gain redress for the damage done by behaviour of this kind – and so on.
Wider examples of ‘Systems Generated Traumas’ abound – in the traumas created by trying to navigate the siloed, target driven practices of many public bodies – of bodies that focus on cost, not value; on processes not people; on protecting their interests rather than the well-being of those they were created to serve.
Jason Beer KC, counsel to the Post Office inquiry refers to it as a “siege mentality” where any challenge was treated “as hostile and must be fended off”.[1]
Merope Mills, who campaigned for ‘Martha’s Rule’[2] referred to a “small minority of bad actors whose arrogance, complacency or pride stops them listening and doing the right thing” and referred to doctors pulling down the posters that offered patients a secondary care review if they were worried about their condition because “they hated the idea of giving patients this kind of power”.[3]
Sir Brian Langstaff referred to the “institutional defensiveness” identified as a cause of the infected blood scandal.[4]
Donna Ockenden, in her ‘Independent review of maternity services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust’[5] (which considered over 1,500 clinical incidents involving mothers and babies) spoke of grieving families being ‘brushed aside, ignored and not listened to’ and expressed the hope that ‘never again should families be left to grieve or suffer in isolation, with the additional pain of feeling their legitimate concerns are being ignored’.
Judge, Joanna Wade referred to an email from a Department for Work and Pensions as likely to discourage vulnerable people from making legitimate complaints, adding: “This is the sort of email or conduct which anyone in receipt of services from a jobcentre would fear, that if job coaches or others are challenged, there will be reprisals.”[6]
We see Systems Generated Trauma in almost every corner of the statutory social welfare services. At a recent seminar concerning homelessness I was told by former rough sleepers that the most traumatic aspect of their experience was dealing with the housing department. We see it too, in the way the system forces tens of thousands of unpaid carers into huge debt through its utterly disproportionate, ruthless and draconian enforcement of carer’s allowance overpayments.[7]
Cerebra’s short survey of people’s experiences of how social welfare systems work: how they work well when they make full adjustments to accommodate the needs of people who have experienced trauma and how they work badly when they cause or exacerbate traumas
The Leeds University research report on Systems Generated Trauma will be published in the Spring of 2025.
The short (10 question) survey can be accessed by clicking here.
Recordings of two sessions of a ‘Systems Generated Trauma’ Conference held at Leeds on 9 July 2024 can be accessed by clicking here.
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[1] See J Croft and JB Quinn Post Office was urged by external lawyers to ‘suppress’ key document, inquiry hears Guardian 18 April 2024 at https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/apr/18/post-office-external-lawyers-inquiry-investigation-guidelines
[2] A Gregory Martha’s rule to be rolled out in 143 NHS hospitals in England Guardian 27 May 2024
[3] A Butler Doctors tore down posters offering Martha’s Rule-style rights, teenager’s mother claims Independent 21 February 2024
[4] The Guardian view on the infected blood report: the disaster’s victims have at last been heard – Editorial Guardian 20 May 2024.
[5] Ockenden Report Final Findings, Conclusions and Essential Actions from the Independent Review of Maternity Services at The Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust HC 1219 House of Commons, 30 March 2022
[6] P Butler Deaf man awarded £50,000 damages after mistreatment by jobcentre officials 28 May 2024 Guardian.
[7] P Butler No one would accept blame’: Carers highlight DWP failures over debt crisis Guardian 27 May 2024.
Posted 31 July 2024