Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:40 pm on 8 December 2020.
Well, Llywydd, I thank Jack Sargeant for bringing us a piece of good news to celebrate on the floor of the Senedd this afternoon. I think I had read that he had himself met recently with The Wallich to hear of their work and the way in which they are using the trauma-informed approach that has been pioneered through the ACE hub to make a difference in their work. I know that Jack Sargeant will know that our blueprints—our female offending and youth offending blueprints—are based on a trauma-informed approach to putting right in the lives of people things that have gone wrong much earlier in their lives.
And on his call for a kinder public service, which I've heard him speak here eloquently on the floor of the Senedd to support, he will have seen, I'm sure, that the toolkit that the hub has recently published to help workers make the link between physical and mental health and to recognise the signs and symptoms of trauma starts by saying, 'Showing kindness, compassion and listening can be protective factors for those who have experienced adversity.' So, kindness, which is a quality worth pursuing in itself, also has that practical advantage of making a difference in the lives of people, and I'm very pleased to join with Jack Sargeant in marking and celebrating the work of The Wallich and all those others whose work has been informed by the work of the centre. And he will know that my colleague Julie Morgan has committed £0.25 million to make sure that the work of the hub goes on into the next financial year while we review all the work that is going on in Wales in this area.