WEBINAR

Reducing Systemic Trauma, Developing Systemic Resilience

Date: Thursday, 19 March, 2026

Time: 10am to 12pm (with a 10 min break)

Price: Free

Speakers: Nahim Ahmed MBE, Head of Strategic Engagement - Youth and Community, Poplar Harca, Spotlight Youth Services, Dr Alex Chard, Director, YCTCS Ltd, Claire Dhami, Head of Systems Change and Inclusion, West Midlands Combined Authority, Danielle Oum, Chair, Birmingham & Solihull & Black Country Integrated Care Boards, Marc Radley, Strategic Director, CACI Ltd

Reducing Systemic Trauma Developing Systemic Resilience: The Social and Economic Case for Transformational Change was recently published by the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). This webinar will formally launch the report and consider the findings. In the foreword to the report Claire Dhami, Head of Systems Change and Inclusion at the WMCA, said:

“The evidence presented here is both sobering and galvanising. We see clearly the high social and economic costs of adversity and trauma, and the limitations of current trauma-informed practice when it is not embedded within a broader, systemic framework. Yet we also see the transformative potential of investing in resilient communities, supporting families, and designing services that “do no harm” and actively promote healing and inclusion.”

Whilst developed for the West Midlands this is a nationally significant report that moves beyond the individualisation of trauma and resilience and argues that both are systemic phenomena that require addressing strategically and more broadly at a societal level. Some of the substantive findings are:

• The increasing evidence that harm from early adversity should be considered much more broadly than adverse childhood experiences (ACEs);
• The evidence reviewed, strongly points to longstanding social and structural issues, including intergenerational poverty and discrimination as highly correlated with adversity and trauma;
• Whilst adversity and trauma can occur throughout life, such factors are more evident in vulnerable groups e.g. those affected by povertisation and racialisation;
• Becoming trauma-informed is an essential beginning, however, to be effective requires an ongoing focus on preventing trauma, strengthening communities, identifying those who have been traumatised and ensuring they receive appropriate help and support;
• The need to ensure that services do no harm, responding effectively to promote the wellbeing of those individuals who have been affected by adversity in order to prevent or heal trauma;
• For transformational change to occur a multi-layered strategic approach to prevent and reduce trauma is needed.

This webinar will explore the major findings of the report and consider the implications for both strategy and practice. In the webinar you will get the opportunity to hear from the authors of the report and other leading thinkers.  

The main author of the report is Dr Alex Chard, Director YCTCS Ltd. The report extends the thinking he developed in Punishing Abuse, a highly acclaimed study of eighty children in the West Midlands youth justice system, and a paper written for HMI Probation on systemic resilience.

Marc Radley, Strategic Director, CACI Children’s and Young Persons Business Unit, undertook the systems modelling for the study and co-authored that section of the report. 

Meet the speakers

Nahim Ahmed MBE

Head of Strategic Engagement - Youth and Community, Poplar Harca, Spotlight Youth Services

Nahim has been on a mission to help bring positive sustainable changes to the community he serves; particularly to areas that are affected by structural societal issues including poverty and deprivation.

Over the past decade, he has been committed to serving the most vulnerable members of our society through his work in the private, public and voluntary sectors. His undergraduate and postgraduate studies in Youth and Community Work, Law and Community Leadership and Strategic Management of Projects complements his current role as a senior leader in the youth and community setting.

His life transforming work and commitment led to local and national recognition; from being awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award to being recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list in 2021 with an MBE for his services to disadvantaged young people in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

Dr Alex Chard

Alex is an organisational consultant, independent academic and author. He has a Professional Doctorate in Systemic Practice that was focussed on creating systemic change in public sector services. He has 34 years consultancy experience across a range of public services, including significant experience in organisational review and change processes and creating pan-organisational learning.

Punishing Abuse was a detailed study of 80 children in the West Midlands justice system. Anne Longfield (former Children’s Commissioner for England) described the report as comprehensive and harrowing ... a powerful reinforcement of the need to support all children who have suffered ... Punishing Abuse has been highly influential regionally and nationally in developing understandings of the depth and impact of adversity on children.

Alex presented key findings of Punishing Abuse at the opening plenary of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health Conference in 2023. Punishing Abuse has influenced the delivery of national, regional and local health programmes and projects.

His published work also includes: 

• Systemic Resilience, HMI Probation, (extended the thinking in Punishing Abuse) 
• Troubled Lives Tragic Consequences (a review of six children involved in very serious violence); 
• Systemic Inquiry, co-editor and author, (text-book on systemic research); 
• Defending Young People, co-author of three editions (a legal reference book).

Alex has significant experience and knowledge of safeguarding older children. He has studied the professional involvements for 125 troubled children (110 boys and 15 girls) known to the range of public agencies. Through case reviews and research he developed ALTAR™ (Abuse, Loss, Trauma and Attachment and Resilience) an evidenced based approach to consider the needs and responses for older children. He was a member of the Academic Oversight Group for the NHS Violence Reduction Academy for London.

In 2023 he attended an All-Party Parliamentary Group for Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (EDI) Professionals. He provided advice on Organisational Leadership and Culture in developing a Universal EDI Standard.

He was previously a visiting Senior Lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire teaching systemic practice to doctoral students and to social work masters students. He contributed to the revalidation of the Professional Doctorate in Systemic Practice.

Claire Dhami

Head of Systems Change and Inclusion, West Midlands Combined Authority

Claire Dhami is an executive public sector leader with extensive experience in systems change, social innovation and trauma-informed practice. As Head of Systems Change and Inclusion at the West Midlands Combined Authority, she leads cross-system programmes that improve outcomes for children, young people, families and communities, spanning inclusion, violence reduction, homelessness, race equality and community resilience.

Claire has played a central role in shaping and advancing the region’s Public Service Innovation agenda, leading design-led transformation through the establishment of the Office for Public Service Innovation, delivery of design sprints, and development of new models such as Cradle‑to‑Career and Test, Learn and Grow. Her work focuses on creating long‑term, preventative, place-based change that shifts systems towards fairness, equity and better outcomes.

Before joining WMCA, Claire spent 15 years in children’s services, holding a range of senior leadership roles across local government, youth justice, safeguarding, multiple and complex needs, and cross-sector reform. She has significant expertise in youth justice and was part of the national team that helped shape youth justice legislation and standards. She has chaired serious case reviews, navigated inspections, and led large-scale improvement programmes focused on protecting vulnerable children and strengthening families.

Claire also led the development of the West Midlands Violence Reduction Unit’s public health approach, championing collaboration with communities and young people, and advancing pioneering research on trauma, abuse, loss, attachment and resilience in the criminal justice system. Her leadership has significantly influenced the West Midlands Trauma Informed Coalition and the emerging regional framework for reducing systemic trauma and building systemic resilience.

Driven by a commitment to social justice and the power of communities, Claire brings a strategic, compassionate and evidence-informed approach to creating conditions in which individuals, families and communities can heal, thrive and influence the systems around them.

Marc Radley

Strategic Director, CACI Ltd