Debate contribution: Department of Justice: Trauma-informed Practice
Debate contribution by Mrs Naomi Long on .
- MLA
- Mrs Naomi Long
- Party at the time
- Alliance Party
- Date
- 28 September 2026
- Type
- Debate contribution
- Business
- Oral Answers to Questions
- Heading
- Department of Justice: Trauma-informed Practice
- Assembly identifier
- Official Report component 5762136
Read the official Assembly record
Text
That is an interesting question, and I thank the former Health Minister for asking it, because I know that vicarious trauma has also affected his former Department. I do not think that a baseline assessment of staff has been conducted, but it is something that we are aware of and that we may well come to in time. At the moment, we are providing people with the opportunity for additional and, perhaps, more targeted counselling. Some of the stories that we hear when we meet victims are incredibly difficult to listen to. The Member will know that, because he has been at some of those meetings alongside me. We do not simply clock out at the end of the day and forget what we have heard; we carry it with us. One way in which I deal with what I hear is to try to find something that I can do to make it better for people coming through the system. We have to find ways of managing that, such as offering our staff, particularly those in the operational sphere but also those who work in policy development and engage with experts in lived experience, the support to cope with what they may hear.
204 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.
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