Learning from Lived Experience in Trauma-Informed Practice
An Educator’s Guide for Schools, Communities and Beyond
By Shumela Ahmed-Poole
What happens when we begin to value lived experience not simply as someone’s story, but as knowledge that can help us change the way we understand, support and respond to people?
Drawing together lived, learned and professional experience, this book explores how we can move beyond simply understanding trauma towards creating more compassionate, inclusive and responsive environments, organisations and systems.
Written for educators, practitioners, leaders and anyone interested in meaningful change, it offers an honest, accessible and thought-provoking exploration of trauma-informed practice, grounded in both personal experience and professional learning.
Published by Routledge | 30 November 2026
Beyond understanding trauma. Towards changing practice.
Trauma-informed practice has become an increasingly important part of conversations across education, public services and communities. But what does it really mean to put that understanding into practice?
And perhaps more importantly, whose knowledge and experiences are shaping the way we do it?
In Learning from Lived Experience in Trauma-Informed Practice, Shumela Ahmed-Poole brings together her experiences of childhood trauma, education, professional practice and leadership to explore these questions.
Through personal reflections, research, practical insights and examples, the book challenges us to think differently about how we understand people’s experiences, the language we use, the relationships we build and the systems we create.
At its heart is a simple but important belief: lived experience is not just something to be listened to. It is knowledge that can help shape better practice, better decisions and better systems.
This is not a book about having all the answers. It’s about asking better questions, recognising the value of different forms of knowledge and understanding that meaningful change begins with how we see, hear and respond to one another.
