Purpose: Trauma informed practice has become widespread across a number of fields. However, for practitioners working with trauma there is clear evidence of negative impacts. Self-care has become central to the provision of effective trauma informed practice from engagement with impacted clients. This paper will explore ways to ensure self-care for coaching psychologists working in this field pf practice.

Background: The presenters have between them worked in a number of different areas of trauma informed practice and in particular recently in the youth justice system supporting practitioners. Published Trauma Informed Practice Guidelines have looked at the importance of a whole systems approach which includes care for staff not just clients. Research in the field demonstrates the importance of this approach.

Methods: Following a detailed literature review and analysis of experiences of practitioners in different fields we have identified a number of valued self-care practices. These will be briefly introduced.

Key Points: The key argument is the focus on the critical importance of self-care in a fully integrated trauma informed practice setting.

Conclusions: The key policy implication is for services and practitioners themselves to ensure that self-care forms part of any trauma informed service provision.