About Connect

At a glance 

  • A freely accessible, moderated Community of Practice (CoP) for professionals working with children and young people in complex circumstances. 
  • For professionals across health, social care, education, justice, and the voluntary sector.
  • Focused on sharing evidence-informed and promising practice.
  • Grounded in commitments to equity, diversity, inclusion, justice, and safeguarding.

What is Connect? 

Developed by the UK Trauma Council, a project of Anna Freud, the Connect CoP is a freely accessible online space for professionals working with children and young people in complex circumstances. 

Who are the young people we are thinking about?

The focus is on supporting young people whose difficulties often stem from ongoing, interpersonal, or developmental trauma and adversity. This includes those in care, at risk of, or on Deprivation of Liberty Orders, and others managing multiple, overlapping needs to their wellbeing and safety.

These young people often present across many services and might have multiple professionals involved in decision-making around support.

Our values and commitments

Our Community of Practice is committed to equity, diversity, inclusion, and justice. We believe that every child and young person has the right to safety, healing, and hope, and we recognise that these rights are not experienced equally. Children and families are affected differently by trauma because power, privilege, and oppression shape their lives in unequal ways. 


We recognise that racism and other forms of discrimination are profound sources of trauma, and that structural inequities continue to shape children’s access to safety, support, and adjustment in the UK. Addressing race and racism is therefore a core and ongoing priority for our Community of Practice. We also commit to understanding how multiple, intersecting aspects of identity influence children’s experiences and outcomes. 


We also recognise that the inequities experienced by children with learning disabilities are not always adequately addressed within traditional inclusion or anti-oppressive frameworks. Discrimination against children with learning disabilities has often arisen through historic and ongoing misuse of support needs to justify exclusion, control, and reduced rights. Many face communication barriers that limit their ability to share their experiences or advocate for themselves. Our approach therefore includes a distinct and intentional focus on anti-ableism, alongside our commitment to anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice. 


We believe that all adults working with traumatised children and young people deserve high-quality training, supervision, and support, regardless of background, role, or preferred ways of learning. We aim to equip practitioners with the knowledge and skills to offer trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and disability-inclusive care. 

In practice, this means we will:

  • Examine how racism, ableism, discrimination, and structural inequality operate within our work, organisations, and systems 
  • Reflect critically on our language, materials, assumptions, and decision-making 
  • Amplify and co-create with voices that are minoritised, marginalised, or historically excluded, including children, families, and practitioners 
  • Strive for equity in how we invite participation, form partnerships, and share power, while holding ourselves accountable through ongoing reflection, dialogue, and feedback

While we are committed to addressing all forms of inequity—including those related to gender, sexuality, faith, and socio-economic disadvantage—we recognise that race and learning disability require particular, intentional focus in our work. This focus reflects both evidence and consultation within our partnership. 

 


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As a CoP, we aim to create a space that is both supportive and thoughtfully challenging. We recognise that members bring diverse professional, cultural, spiritual, and personal perspectives on children’s wellbeing and recovery from trauma. We welcome contributions grounded in different knowledge systems, including research, clinical, cultural, community, and faith-based perspectives. 

We encourage members to share views respectfully, remain open to challenge and reflection, and recognise how power, culture, and lived experience shape perspectives. We are committed to ensuring that dialogue remains inclusive and does not reinforce discrimination, exclusion, or harm, while supporting constructive exploration of difference. 

Responsibility for upholding these values is shared across the CoP, including members, moderators, facilitators, and the project team. The project team, facilitators and contributors hold particular responsibility for modelling these values, creating conditions for inclusive participation, and responding to feedback or concerns.  

Ultimate accountability sits with the Co-Directors of the UK Trauma Council. All members are encouraged to contribute to maintaining these values and to respectfully challenge practice that does not align with them. 



We recognise that building an equitable and inclusive CoP is an ongoing process. We will seek feedback from members and reflect on whose voices are being heard, how safe and inclusive the space feels, and how learning from dialogue and difference is influencing practice and decision-making.  

We approach this commitment with humility. We know we will make mistakes, and we accept that good intentions are not enough. As a CoP, we commit to listening, learning, and continuing to grow together, in service of justice, equity, and better outcomes for all children and young people. 

This statement will be routinely reviewed in March and September each year to ensure it continues to reflect learning, evidence, and the experiences of the communities we serve. 

Current version: 16 February 2026 

Connect has been funded by the Department for Education, working jointly with National Health Service England, supported by the Ministry of Justice and the Department of Health and Social Care.

Signposted resources are not funded or endorsed by the funders, unless otherwise stated.

We welcome feedback, comments, or concerns and encourage members to contact us at [email protected]. We will use this learning to shape how the CoP develops over time.

If you have a resource to recommend for inclusion on the Resource hub, please let us know by emailing [email protected]

Who are the UK Trauma Council?

The UKTC brings together experts in the field of childhood trauma from across the four nations, including leading researchers from universities across the UK.

Our mission is to radically improve the help children and young people receive across the UK following traumatic events and experiences.

We support professionals, communities and policy makers through developing resources, guidance and training in responding to traumatic events that impact on children and young people.

The UKTC is led by Prof. Rachel Hiller and David Trickey, supported by the project team made up of Adelaide O'Mahony, Amy Rozwod, Beck Ferrari and Matt Clifton.