Trauma-Informed Training with Alison Armstrong

01/07/25 • 49 min

In this incredible episode, Alison Armstrong walks us through the importance of trauma-informed training and the essential skills of intervention when having conversations around challenging topic of suicide.

Alison is a best-selling author and training specialist with a wealth of experience in the areas of alcohol, drug and suicide prevention. She has developed training across these topics to various stakeholders, organisations, and businesses across the UK and internationally. An excellent trainer and public speaker - and a qualified celebrant - Alison has personally trained over 3,000 people in suicide intervention skills and believes that everyone should be trained to help reduce the stigma of suicide.

Alison talks Adam through the best practices for kind and compassionate trauma-informed training. Including:

How to intervene when someone is having thoughts of suicide
When NOT to use personal stories
Intentional language choices that reduce stigma

This is a must-listen for anyone interested in fostering a safe and welcoming learning environment no matter how challenging the subject.

Connect with Alison on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-armstrong-602850191/

If you are having thoughts of suicide, help is available right now if you need it. For support for yourself or someone else:

Samaritans – Call 116 123, Email [email protected]
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) - Call 0800 58 58 58 (5pm to midnight every day)
National Suicide Prevention Helpline UK - Call 0800 689 5652 (6pm to midnight every day)
Papyrus - Call 0800 068 41 41, Text 07860 039967, Email [email protected]
Shout - Text "SHOUT" to 85258
NHS - Call 111, select option 2
Call your GP and ask for an emergency appointment

If you have seriously harmed yourself or you feel that you may be about to harm yourself, call 999 for an ambulance.

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Alison talks Adam through the best practices for kind and compassionate trauma-informed training. Including:

How to intervene when someone is having thoughts of suicide
When NOT to use personal stories
Intentional language choices that reduce stigma

This is a must-listen for anyone interested in fostering a safe and welcoming learning environment no matter how challenging the subject.

Connect with Alison on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alison-armstrong-602850191/

If you are having thoughts of suicide, help is available right now if you need it. For support for yourself or someone else:

Samaritans – Call 116 123, Email [email protected]
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM) - Call 0800 58 58 58 (5pm to midnight every day)
National Suicide Prevention Helpline UK - Call 0800 689 5652 (6pm to midnight every day)
Papyrus - Call 0800 068 41 41, Text 07860 039967, Email [email protected]
Shout - Text "SHOUT" to 85258
NHS - Call 111, select option 2
Call your GP and ask for an emergency appointment

If you have seriously harmed yourself or you feel that you may be about to harm yourself, call 999 for an ambulance.

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Previous Episode

Driving Engagement and Learning Outcome with Harry Chapman-Walker

In this exciting interview, Adam speaks with Harry Chapman-Walker, CEO of Kallidus. Harry Chapman-Walker studied Politics and International Relations at the University of Bath and later earned a Master’s in International Business Law and joined Kallidus in 2013.

After completing an Executive MBA in 2020, Harry moved to the US in 2021 as Executive Vice President of Sapling, driving Kallidus' North American expansion. In March 2024, he returned to the UK as CEO of Kallidus, leading the company's strategy and vision to bridge the global development gap and create a customer-focused organization.

In this episode, Harry and Adam discuss the key moves and players in an organisation that help build strong L&D, including:

Finding the key to engagement in the organisational culture
Creating learning that supports the individual and business
The power of middle managers
How personal development benefits the wider organisation

Connect with Harry on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harrychapmanwalker/

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication, leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.

Next Episode

Testing New Technology to Improve Learning at SJP with Nicki Finnigan

In this great episode of L&D Challenges, Adam chats with Nicki Finnigan, Director of Learning and Development at financial advisory company St. James Place, about SJP’s new learning experiences they’ve created recently.

Leading a number of transformative L&D projects, Nicki launched a new platform and app that delivers a learning programme to the SJP partnership and employees. Combining this with Virtual Reality and AI, Nicki and her team have taken L&D at SJP to new heights.

In this episode, Adam and Nicki discuss how they have rolled out these new initiatives as well as some of the early results and lessons learned. They also look at what has made their L&D initiatives successful among their employees. Including:

Accelerating soft skills with Virtual Reality and AI
Creating and maintaining a personalised app for learning
Revenue-based L&D versus cost-based L&D

If you’re interested in getting some new technology under your L&D belt or integrating a new learning platform in your learning experience, this is the episode for you.

Connect with Nicki on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickifinnigan/

Check out St. James’ Place’s podcast Every Day’s a School Day wherever you stream your podcasts

Looking for a content library to help your team develop their productivity, communication,

leadership skills and more? Check out assembleyou.com and follow us on LinkedIn.