‘You never know who you’re gonna speak to’: exploring Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners’ experiences of assessing traumatic events

Abstract This study explored junior mental health workers’ experiences of conducting assessments involving traumatic events. Semi-structured interviews with 11 junior mental health workers from a UK primary care mental health service were analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Participants discussed themes of ambiguity in distinguishing trauma and PTSD, high levels of pressure, management of personal distress, appropriate training, and personal support in-service. Findings corroborate previous research regarding challenges experienced by junior mental health workers and offer novel insight into the challenges faced when assessing service-users’ experiences of traumatic events. Recommendations regarding future training, service design and emotional outlets for junior mental health workers are offered. Key learning aims (1) Following reading this paper, readers will better understand the diagnostic and practice-based complexities involved in assessing traumatic events as a Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP) in an NHS Talking Therapies service. (2) Readers will also be aware of the emotional challenges PWPs in this service have reported experiencing as a result of assessing service users that report having experienced traumatic events. (3) The reader will also learn about PWPs’ perspectives on what could improve this NHS Talking Therapies service’s processes involved in assessing traumatic events and reflect on whether this might be generalisable across other, similar services.