Jane Pepa
Our Education Lead and Trauma Informed Practitioner is leading the way in researching new ways to help people marked by childhood trauma.
Former Liverpool headteacher Jane Pepa, who says that adverse childhood experiences can impact an individual for life, wants to help professionals who work with children to be better prepared.
As a teacher in a specialist mental health school, Jane has written and delivered training to people from nurseries, primary, secondary and special education, as well as police, housing and social workers and therapists.
Now supported by LJMU’s Public Health Institute as she studies for a PhD with Professor Zara Quigg, Nadia Butler and Dr Jane Harris, she is aiming to enhance the limited evidence base in how agencies can help youngsters with such backgrounds.
In 2020, a breakthrough came when she successfully obtained Winston Churchill Fellowship funding to learn more about what other countries are doing to develop trauma-informed practices, and to bring this knowledge back to the UK.
Now, following a four-year work programme including visits to meet partners from Norway (Oslo) and the USA (New York, San Francisco, Dallas), Jane has successfully completed the fellowship to become a Winston Churchill Fellow.
The Churchill Fellowship is a UK charity which supports individual UK citizens to follow their passion for change, through learning from the world and bringing that knowledge back to the UK.
The charity says that Jane’s research will aid the development and impact of trauma-informed practice training across the UK.
She says: “Together we are planning a conference to bring everyone, both professionals and parents, to continue to develop connections and ongoing discussion on how to bring the community together.”
LJMU’s Public Health Institute is a pioneer in the field of Adverse Childhood Experiences and their mitigation, led by Professor Zara Quigg and Professor Mark Bellis.
Read more about Jane’s fellowship work programme.