Earlier this year in March, UOK East Sussex launched its Trauma-Informed Practice Test & Learn Programme 2026, supporting local voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations to embed trauma-informed approaches into their everyday work.
Led by Southdown as the UOK East Sussex lead provider, the programme runs from March to September 2026 and has awarded five grants of £2,000 to organisations working in Rother and Wealden.
Participating organisations:
Rother:
The Pelham
Based in Bexhill-on-Sea, The Pelham run a community hub with 60+ partners. They offer counselling, youth work and a suicide prevention programme, with around 500 people engaging each week.
Rother Voluntary Action
They support volunteers and VCSE organisations across Rother with practical guidance, funding advice and opportunities for collaboration
Wealden:
ManKind
Founded in 2020, Mankind is a free peer support group for men offering a safe, non-judgmental space to talk. They hold weekly meetings across Eastbourne, Heathfield and Hailsham
Rotherfield St Martin
A volunteer-led charity tackling isolation and loneliness in older people in rural Rotherfield. Open weekdays with activities, befriending and a volunteer driver scheme.
Uckfield Foodbank
Part of the Trussell Trust network, they provide emergency food and practical support and advice to people in crisis across Uckfield and surrounding villages through a voucher referral system.
Why trauma-informed practice matters to partners
The initiative responds to the realities many communities face – rural isolation, limited access to support, and the long-term impacts of trauma – while recognising the important role that smaller, trusted organisations play in supporting wellbeing.
The programme got underway in March with a launch session bringing together VCSE partners for a day of connection, reflection and learning. Delivered by Kate Gillhespy and Juliet Oxbury, the session gave organisations space to explore what a trauma-informed approach looks like in practice — and to start planning their first steps towards embedding it in their work.
For participating organisations, the programme offers both practical tools and a space to reflect on the realities of their work.
ManKind explained why the programme matters to their work:
“At the weekly ManKind mental health peer support groups, we encounter trauma on a regular basis. It can be challenging for the facilitators to manage traumatic events which are shared at these groups.
The Trauma Informed Practice Test and Learn will give our facilitators the opportunity to learn more and test out ideas for managing trauma as it arises. We aim to use this programme to help explore traumatic experiences in a safe environment, and to mitigate risk of triggering trauma in members and vicarious trauma in facilitators.”
For Vicky from Rotherfield St Martin, the programme connects directly to their core mission of reducing isolation and building community:
“Combating loneliness and isolation in older people is at the heart of everything that we do. We have an open-door policy and welcome many people daily. Our daily objective is to make people feel safe and connected. The more we can learn about people, the better we can support them and offer genuine friendship. This programme will give us the tools to do this.”
Vicky added:
“Our team of staff are compassionate by nature and as such can unwittingly absorb trauma. This programme, as well as supporting the people we help, will also provide help and support to our team.”
Testing, learning and growing together
Using Human Learning Systems principles, the programme supports organisations to test small but meaningful changes, from adapting welcome processes to creating more trauma-aware environments—and learn from what works in real-world settings.
Over the six-month period, partners are taking part in action learning, peer reflection and ongoing support, helping to strengthen both individual organisations and the wider system.
A collective effort across the system
Stuart Reid, Partnership Lead for UOK East Sussex, emphasised the importance of this collaborative approach:
“It was great that UOK East Sussex have this opportunity, thanks to East Sussex County Council, to test some Trauma Informed practices with some fantastic local voluntary and community organisations, especially in Wealden and Rother.”
He added:
“We are particularly delighted to work with partners, some of whom might not necessarily call themselves ‘mental health organisations’ [but] play such vital roles in their communities to support wellbeing and good mental health through their work.”
