A Psychologically Informed Environment means that as a whole staff team along with our partners we work to understand how the experiences of our service users have affected their psychological development and subsequently their mental health and wellbeing.
The whole team is trained in attachment theory and we use a trauma informed approach.
The team is supported through monthly reflective group supervision, facilitated by a psychologist. This process helps the team to understand service user’s behaviour and this enables a consistent team approach.
The development of PIE represents a huge investment in our staff team. We believe that this commitment will produce a team of workers who are more skilled knowledgeable and confident in their roles. Ultimately, we are confident this will produce even better outcomes for our service users.
Staff development is at the center of the development of PIE, however there are five key elements to implementation :-
- Relationships
We believe Relationships are the principle tool for change. The organisation works to maintain an environment that enables staff and service users to build positive professional relationships. - Staff support and training
We are continually reflecting on our working practice to support continuous improvement; reflective individual and group supervision is a key component. - The physical environment and social spaces
We have created an environment where there is a sense of physical and emotional safety for both clients and staff. - A psychological framework
We are using a psychological approach (trauma informed) to help our staff understand the connection between thoughts, emotions and behaviour and through this understanding work consistently and more effectively as a team. - Evidence generating practice We evaluate our outcomes, to understand what has worked well and why. This knowledge supports continuous learning and improvement.