It has been 30 Years since Blue Knot began advocating for change and building awareness of what we know now as complex trauma. Over the last three decades the landscape of trauma support has changed in many ways. Silence has begun to give way to greater awareness; fragmented systems are starting to focus on building connections and the dignity of people with lived experience is increasingly recognised at the heart of human services. It has been shaped by survivors, practitioners, carers and leaders – many of whom carry their own histories of trauma while contributing to the healing of others.
The importance of leadership is key to continuing to shape this landscape. Not leadership defined by authority but the capacity to hold vision in complex times, to keep people at the centre and to weave compassion, accountability and wellbeing into the fabric of human services. Compassion cannot be treated as optional, for survivors it is the foundation on which to build safety and trust and for practitioners it is what sustains the ability to sit with pain and walk alongside recovery.
Compassion is about seeing the whole person, honouring both lived experience and professional expertise and acknowledging what we each carry. It is also what creates services that can offer spaces for people to create their own safety, that build a sustainable and real connection and are felt as deeply human.
The last 30 Years have also shown us the cost of this work when wellbeing is overlooked. The impact of trauma can weigh heavily, through lived experience, caring for others and supporting people in a professional context. Vicarious trauma, moral distress and burnout are not peripheral risks, they are central challenges when providing trauma care. Therefore, wellbeing in a shared responsibility, embedded into systems, supervision and organisational culture where both organisation and individuals work together to create a space for wellness.
So, when we then include accountability, we can often see it viewed through a narrow, compliance driven lens, yet it is much broader, it is a commitment to quality, safety and integrity. When accountability and compassion are held together, they can create trust, trust in services that are ethical, consistent and reliable, which are not simply governance requirements, but a profound form of care.
As we reflect on the road ahead one message is clear: compassion, accountability and wellbeing are not optional values, nor are they separate. They are intertwined, each necessary to honour every person, survivor, supporter, practitioner, all of us humans with our own experiences. Today our challenge is to keep building cultures and systems that hold truth at the centre. To lead with both clarity and kindness, to recognise we are a community of people, walking together through the realities and impacts of trauma and exploring the real possibilities for healing.
Tamara O’Sullivan – Executive Manager
