Young offenders and trauma: experience and impact: a practitioner’s guide

28 November 2016 | Tagged with the theme: Trauma

This practitioner briefing aims to highlight what is currently known about the links between trauma and young people’s behaviour and development.

Trauma and its effects are a key consideration for those who work with young offenders. Not only are traumatic experiences very common in the backgrounds of young offenders, but the impact of these experiences can limit their ability to engage with opportunities in the short term, and in the longer term can seriously narrow their life chances.

It is therefore critical that resettlement practitioners are aware of issues concerning trauma because attempting to address behaviour without understanding a young person’s underlying difficulties can result in unsuccessful and sometimes counterproductive interventions.

This practitioner briefing aims to highlight what is currently known about the links between trauma and young people’s behaviour and development. The next practitioner briefing explores how this insight can begin to inform work with custody leavers.

Download Young offenders and trauma: experience and impact: a practitioner’s guide