Debbie Watkin
Registered Psychologist, Te Puaruruhau, Starship Child Health

Debbie is a Registered Psychologist who works at Te Puaruruhau, Starship Health, ADHB; a specialist multi-disciplinary and multi-agency team working in the area of trauma and child protection services.  She has a teaching background and trained at the University of Auckland and then University of Washington in Seattle. She registered as a psychologist in 1993.

​​In her 30 years of practice working with tamariki and whanau, Debbie has moved through the Ministry of Education, Oranga Tamariki and 3 years ago started at ADHB.  She has led multiple trainings for professionals, teachers, clinicians and carers, understanding and caring for children affected by trauma; all of which have adopted a Trauma-Informed approach. She is proud that Puawaitahi adopt an ACES and now PACES lens – recognising the impact of adversity and trauma, but also the powerfully healing properties of relationships and kindness to both clients and colleagues alike.

Trauma Informed Care

With the growing knowledge about neuroscience, epigenetics and how exposure to trauma affects people of all ages, changes are increasingly being made that inform policy and practice. People now recognize the impact that adversity, trauma, relationships and kindness have on people’s lives. Especially amidst this ongoing pandemic and its impact on people’s mental health, it is our responsibility as practitioners to adopt a trauma-informed lens and put this learning about trauma into practice in a way that supports care, growth and recovery in the best way possible.

This introductory talk aims to explore the idea of trauma and the impact that experiencing some forms of stress can leave on people’s health – both yourself and your clients. 

This presentation will explore:
  • the journey on how to become ‘trauma informed’,
  • challenging traditional ideas around trauma, 
  • epigenetics and the transmission of historical or intergenerational trauma;
  • the brain and the body, and how ‘the body keeps the score’,
  • discuss ACES to PACES; both the toxic ‘stuff’ and the positive ‘stuff’ that shapes the architecture of the brain,
  • the power of relationships and how our brains are wired to connect!