“No one is immune to trauma” - Dr Tegan Brierley-Sollis

A university lecturer who overcame personal trauma and grief at a young age is exploring a trauma-informed approach to children's offending behaviour — recognising it as a potential call for help. 

Dr Tegan Brierley-Sollis, a Lecturer in Policing, Criminology and Trauma-Informed Approaches at Wrexham University, has experience working and volunteering with children and adults involved in the criminal justice system and has been researching trauma-informed practice culture within youth justice. 

Tegan had her own experiences with trauma before she started her research journey. After taking on various work opportunities and training programmes she happened to be placed with the youth offending team which works with justice-involved children. 

She said: “My dream was to be a tattoo artist but that changed once I experienced the placement with the young people. There is just something about this work that stayed with me, and I really enjoyed it.” 

“No one is immune to trauma. Trauma-informed practice, it’s not about saying what is wrong with you, it’s about saying what’s happened to you and who has been there for you.” 

Tegan created a concept in collaboration with ACE Hub Wales and students and staff at Wrexham University to explain trauma and trauma-informed practice in a clear and accessible way which has since been developed into an animation titled ‘Navigating the Storm’. Her research has contributed to the new Trauma-Informed Wales framework which is focused on embedding trauma-informed culture across Wales. It emphasises physical, physiological and emotional safety not just for children who experienced trauma but also for trauma-impacted individuals, communities and organisations. The aim of this framework is to increase access to services while empowering service providers.  

Watch Dr Tegan Brierley-Sollis share her thoughts on diversity and inclusion in research at the Health and Care Research Wales conference 2023.