When organisations fail their people, the consequences are severe.
In 2017, 72 people died in the Grenfell Tower fire. In the years that followed, the professionals tasked with supporting survivors carried a weight that most organisations were entirely unprepared to manage.
Rachel Wright Turner, former Director of Public Service for the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, was one of them. She had been instrumental in supporting those affected by the disaster. The trauma she absorbed in doing that job cost her everything — including the job itself.
In 2023, Rachel Wright Turner was awarded £4.6 million in compensation after an employment tribunal ruled that her dismissal, caused by PTSD, amounted to disability discrimination.
This is not an isolated case. It is a warning.
Frontline workers, emergency responders, social care professionals, housing officers, NHS staff, teachers — every day, people in your organisation are exposed to experiences that leave a mark.
Vicarious trauma is not a weakness. It is a physiological response to witnessing suffering. And it is your organisation’s responsibility to understand it, prepare for it, and respond to it.
The question is not whether trauma is affecting your workforce; our approach builds trauma-informed systems that support your people as they support others.
The UK Government is actively reviewing its legislative position on employer duty of care for PTSD. The direction of travel is clear. Organisations that act now build resilience. Those that wait will be reacting to crisis.
Working with organisations where their people face trauma as part of the job.
That includes:
✓ NHS Trusts and Primary Care Networks
✓ Emergency services — police, fire, ambulance
✓ Housing associations and local authority housing teams
✓ Social care providers and children’s services
✓ Education — schools, colleges, universities
✓ Voluntary and community sector organisations
✓ Legal and justice sector — probation, courts, legal aid
✓ Charities and frontline third sector organisations
✓ Any organisation navigating post-incident recovery or ongoing operational pressure
If your staff regularly witness, hear about, or respond to distressing events — this is for you.
What we provide
Trauma-Informed Training (CPD Accredited)
Half-day and full-day workshops for teams, managers, and leadership. Delivered in-person or online. Participants leave with practical frameworks for recognising, responding to, and reducing the impact of vicarious trauma and PTSD in the workplace.
Accredited by CPD — certifiable for continued professional development records.
Organisational Consultancy
A structured review of your current policies, procedures, and culture through a trauma-trained/informed lens. We identify gaps, highlight risk, and provide a clear, actionable set of recommendations — written in plain language, not clinical jargon.
This includes your safeguarding frameworks, HR processes, line management practices, and post-incident support protocols.
Ongoing Support & Implementation
Change doesn’t happen after one workshop. We offer ongoing support — check-ins, follow-up sessions, and access to resources — to help your organisation embed trauma-informed practice rather than just tick a box.
We can also support you in developing internal champions who sustain the work after we step back.
If your staff regularly witness, hear about, or respond to distressing events — this is for you.
We are not a training company that teaches about trauma.
We support our community daily.
That includes:
Sole Survivor was founded by Matt Shepley — not from a boardroom, but from lived recovery from PTSD. Every piece of training and consultancy we deliver is built on that foundation.
We know what it feels like when an organisation fails someone who is struggling. We know what good support looks like — and what it feels like when it is missing. That is not something that can be learned from a textbook.
We are a Community Interest Company — not commercially driven, mission driven. Our goal is not to sell you a package. It is to make your organisation genuinely safer for the people inside it.
✓ CPD-accredited training delivered by people with lived experience of PTSD
✓ Over 5 years working with individuals and organisations across the North West
✓ Independently insured and registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office
✓ Registered CIC — profits reinvested into free community peer support
If your staff regularly witness, hear about, or respond to distressing events — this is for you.
The cost of inaction?
That includes:
Without trauma-informed practice, your people — and your organisation — suffer the consequences.
✓ Staff carrying unprocessed trauma, leading to burnout and long-term absence
✓ Experienced people leaving because they don’t feel supported
✓ Increased vulnerability under the Equality Act 2010 — PTSD is a protected disability
✓ Reputational impact if cases become public
✓ The human cost — staff struggling in silence, unsupported
Trauma-informed practice isn’t a wellbeing add-on. It’s essential organisational and legislative care.
If your staff regularly witnesses, hears about, or responds to traumatic events, we are here to serve you.