{"id":117,"date":"2026-07-01T10:58:38","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T09:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/careexperience\/?page_id=117"},"modified":"2026-07-01T13:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T12:20:23","slug":"understanding-care-experience-trauma-and-adversity","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/careexperience\/understanding-care-experience-trauma-and-adversity\/","title":{"rendered":"Trauma and Adversity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem\">Research consistently highlights that care experienced children and young people are more likely to face challenges relating to their emotional wellbeing, mental health, relationships, attendance, engagement, and sense of belonging in school. Early adversity, trauma, disruption to key relationships, and experiences of loss or instability can have a significant impact on a child or young person&#8217;s development, wellbeing, and readiness to learn. However, the evidence is equally clear that positive, nurturing relationships and supportive school environments can act as powerful protective factors, helping care experienced learners to thrive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>This section of the Care Experience Toolkit brings together a range of evidence-informed resources, tools, and guidance to support practitioners in promoting the health and wellbeing of care experienced children and young people. These resources are designed to help schools develop trauma-informed, relationship-based approaches that recognise strengths, build resilience, and support inclusion, participation, and achievement. By prioritising wellbeing and ensuring that children and young people experience safety, connection, and belonging within their school community, practitioners can play a vital role in improving outcomes and helping care experienced learners reach their full potential.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In line with GIRFEC, The Promise, and Dumfries and Galloway&#8217;s commitment to being effective corporate parents, the resources within this section support schools to create environments where care experienced children and young people are understood, valued, and supported to flourish<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<h2>Understanding Care Experience, Trauma and Adversity<\/h2>\n<p>Research shows that care experienced children and young people are more likely to have experienced trauma, loss, instability and disrupted relationships, all of which can affect emotional regulation, wellbeing and engagement in learning.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-118 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/public\/careexperience\/uploads\/sites\/9029\/2026\/07\/01104447\/Trauma.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"517\" height=\"486\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/public\/careexperience\/uploads\/sites\/9029\/2026\/07\/01104447\/Trauma.png 517w, https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/public\/careexperience\/uploads\/sites\/9029\/2026\/07\/01104447\/Trauma-300x282.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 517px) 100vw, 517px\" \/><\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Policy &amp; Guidance<\/strong><\/h3>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/thepromise.scot\">The Promise<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.scot\/publications\/psychological-trauma-and-adversity\/\">Psychological trauma and adversity including ACEs (adverse childhood experiences) &#8211; gov.scot<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/education.gov.scot\/media\/qorfmno3\/inc83-making-the-links-nurture-aces-and-trauma.pdf\">Nurture, Adverse Childhood Experiences and Trauma informed practice: Making the links between these approaches<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Professional Learning<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nes.scot.nhs.uk\/our-work\/trauma-national-trauma-transformation-programme\/\">Trauma \u2013 national trauma transformation programme | NHS Education<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/education.gov.scot\/resources\/keeping-trauma-in-mind\/\">Keeping Trauma in Mind | Resources | Education Scotland<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/learn.nes.nhs.scot\/49341\">Children and young people&#8217;s mental health and wellbeing : a knowledge and skills framework for the Scottish workforce | Turas | Learn<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/view.officeapps.live.com\/op\/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Feducation.gov.scot%2Fmedia%2Ftewpi5sk%2Factive-listening-informed-level.pptx&amp;wdOrigin=BROWSELINK\">Education Scotland:\u00a0 Active Listening<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/view.officeapps.live.com\/op\/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Feducation.gov.scot%2Fmedia%2Fdb0n13kk%2Fattachment-informed-level-1.pptx&amp;wdOrigin=BROWSELINK\">Education Scotland:\u00a0 Attachment<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/view.officeapps.live.com\/op\/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Feducation.gov.scot%2Fmedia%2Fkcmj0hhr%2Fco-regulation-and-de-escalation-informed-level.pptx&amp;wdOrigin=BROWSELINK\">Education Scotland: Co-regulation &amp; Desculation\u00a0<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/view.officeapps.live.com\/op\/view.aspx?src=https%3A%2F%2Feducation.gov.scot%2Fmedia%2Flq4hde10%2Fwhat-is-trauma-informed-level.pptx&amp;wdOrigin=BROWSELINK\">Education Scotland:\u00a0 What is Trauma?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Resources<\/h3>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/learn.nes.nhs.scot\/33284\/early-intervention-for-children\/talking-mental-health-teacher-toolkit\">Talking Mental Health<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Talking Mental Health\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nCrjevx3-Js?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><a href=\"https:\/\/learn.nes.nhs.scot\/33287\">We All Have Mental Health (S1 &#8211; S3)<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"We All Have Mental Health\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/DxIDKZHW3-E?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"page-title\"><a href=\"https:\/\/education.gov.scot\/resources\/compassionate-and-connected-classroom\/\">The compassionate and connected classroom<\/a><\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Research consistently highlights that care experienced children and young people are more likely to face challenges relating to their emotional wellbeing, mental health, relationships, attendance, engagement, and sense of belonging in school. Early adversity, trauma, disruption to key relationships, and experiences of loss or instability can have a significant impact on a child or young person&#8217;s development, wellbeing, and readiness to learn. However, the evidence is equally clear that positive,<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/careexperience\/understanding-care-experience-trauma-and-adversity\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20564,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-117","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/careexperience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/117","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/careexperience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/careexperience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/careexperience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/careexperience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/careexperience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/117\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":157,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/careexperience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/117\/revisions\/157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.glowscotland.org.uk\/dg\/careexperience\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}