About We Are ATR
We Are ATR is a values-led limited company specialising in adversity, trauma and resilience. We help organisations build cultures and systems that do not compound harm and that actively support recovery, wellbeing, performance and equity.
Our work sits at the intersection of people, performance and systems, helping organisations understand what is driving demand, risk and workforce pressure, and turning that insight into practical, measurable change. We work with whole systems, individual organisations, leaders and teams across every sector, providing training, research, evaluation, consultancy and specialist expertise. Every piece of work we do is grounded in co-production with people who have lived experience, evidence drawn from science and practice, and a commitment to outcomes that matter.
"Our work sits at the intersection of people, performance and systems, helping organisations understand what is driving demand, risk and workforce pressure, and turning that insight into practical, measurable change."
Our Vision
A shared ambition - a society where systems, services and workplaces respond to adversity and trauma with understanding, equity and skill, enabling people and communities to thrive.
Our Mission
To support organisations across all sectors, commercial, public and community, to embed trauma-informed, responsive, evidence-based and lived experience–led approaches that improve outcomes, strengthen workforces and reduce long-term demand.
What We Stand For
• Prevention over crisis.
• Long-term value over short-term fixes.
• Equity as a driver of better outcomes and performance.
• Strong, supported workforces as the foundation of effective systems.
• Evidence and lived experience working together.
• Practical implementation, not just strategy.
We believe that values-led work and commercially credible work are not in conflict. Done well, they strengthen each other.
Our Values
Equity. We start from the understanding that adversity, trauma and opportunity are not evenly distributed, and neither are the resources to respond to them. Our work seeks to address that, inside organisations and across the communities they serve.
Co-production and lived experience. Expertise comes from living through something as well as from studying it. Both forms of knowledge belong at the table, in equal measure.
Compassion with rigour. We lead with humanity and warmth, but we are not satisfied with good intentions. Our work must be grounded, credible and measurable.
Relational leadership. Trust, relationships and psychological safety are central to change. We invest in them as core infrastructure, not soft extras.
Adaptive learning. Nothing we offer is off-the-shelf. We listen, test, evaluate and improve.
Integrity. We are honest about what we see. We will say when something is not aligned, not effective, or not the right fit.
Our Story & Proven Foundation
While We Are ATR is new, our expertise is not.
Since 2020, we have led the West Yorkshire Adversity, Trauma and Resilience (ATR) Programme, a nationally recognised, cross-sector movement that has reshaped how organisations and systems understand and respond to adversity. What began as a regional collaboration has become a proven model of change, influencing strategy, building workforce capability, and embedding trauma-informed and responsive, prevention-led approaches across business, public services and communities.
At a glance — system impact (2020–2026)
3,000+ PROFESSIONALS TRAINED
700+ SYSTEM PARTNERS CONVENED
1,100+ DIGITAL HUB USERS
100+ SENIOR LEADERS PLEDGED
1,000+ ANNUAL KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE ATTENDEES
£600k+ ADDITIONAL RESOURCE LEVERAGED IN 12 MONTHS
Why This Matters
Delivering change at scale, whether in a single business, a system or a region, requires reach, influence and measurable impact. The ATR Programme has demonstrated all three.
Impact & Outcomes
Impact Area: Workforce capability
What We Did: Trained 3,000+ professionals across sectors
What Changed: More confident, relational, trauma-informed and responsive practice
Impact Area: Learning infrastructure
What We Did: Delivered 100+ events and forums
What Changed: Sustained culture change and shared learning
Impact Area: Cultural change
What We Did: Reframed organisational and system narratives
What Changed: From "what's wrong with you?" to "what has happened to you?"
Impact Area: Cross-sector collaboration
What We Did: Convened 700+ partners across business, public services and VCSE
What Changed: Reduced silo working and stronger coordination
Impact Area: Service and workplace innovation
What We Did: Delivered system programmes (e.g. A&E Navigators) and corporate workforce programmes (e.g. Lloyds Banking Group)
What Changed: Reduced repeat attendances, earlier intervention, and stronger workforce performance
Impact Area: Leadership influence
What We Did: Secured 100+ senior leader pledges
What Changed: Trauma-informed and responsive approaches embedded in strategy and culture
Impact Area: Prevention & inequalities
What We Did: Embedded trauma as an upstream driver
What Changed: Shift toward early intervention and root-cause thinking
Regional, National & International Leadership
While rooted in West Yorkshire, this work has always operated beyond a single place. From the outset, the programme has connected local delivery with wider leadership, regionally, nationally and internationally, ensuring that learning flows both ways.
• Regionally, we lead and coordinate the Trauma-Informed and responsive North collaboration, aligning organisations across the North of England and strengthening shared approaches to prevention, inequality and trauma-informed and responsive practice.
• Nationally, we have influenced policy and system thinking as a founding member of the national Trauma-Informed Community of Practice, co-authoring a national briefing calling for a trauma-informed and responsive policy for England, and convening parliamentary engagement, including a Trauma-Responsive Policy Roundtable and House of Lords reception bringing together policymakers, system leaders, academics, business and lived experience partners.
• Internationally, the work has extended through presentations at conferences in New Zealand and Marseille, collaboration with global experts, and contributions to the development of an emerging international Community of Practice, including an emerging European partnership exploring a COST Action on trauma and adversity.
This puts us in a position to support local, organisational and system-level change and to bring in evidence, insight and practice from across the UK and globally. That perspective benefits corporate partners thinking about international workforce strategy as much as system leaders shaping place-based delivery.
What We Have Built
Behind the numbers sits a body of practical, co-produced work, tools, frameworks, programmes and partnerships that have been used, adapted and embedded across organisations and systems. Built through sustained cross-sector relationships across business, health, care, education, justice, community safety, housing, the voluntary sector and international partners, this foundation provides both deep insight and the ability to design approaches that work across organisational and geographic boundaries.
Movement & Infrastructure
We established one of the UK's largest trauma-informed and responsive movements, supported by a 700+ member cross-sector network spanning business, public services and VCSE. This created a shared language, common principles and a collective commitment to change. The work has extended nationally through coordination of the Trauma-Informed and responsive North collaboration, and internationally through emerging global Communities of Practice.
Cross-sector & Corporate Partnerships
We strengthened collaboration across public services and extended this work into the private sector, including delivery of a trauma-informed and responsive workforce and leadership programme with Lloyds Banking Group, and innovative cultural and community partnerships such as Healing Through Heritage with the Royal Armouries and work with Yorkshire Sport and Rugby League Cares. Through this, trauma-informed and responsive approaches have been applied to workforce wellbeing, leadership, productivity, brand-aligned community impact and organisational performance, demonstrating relevance across both commercial and public-sector contexts.
Strategy & System Transformation
We shifted thinking from crisis response to prevention, embedding trauma-informed and responsive approaches within Integrated Care System priorities, population-health strategies and inequality agendas, and translating the same principles into corporate workforce, leadership and culture programmes.
Governance & Leadership
We built the infrastructure to sustain change, Strategic Boards and system-leadership engagement, place-based leadership across five local areas, and Communities of Practice supporting ongoing learning. This leadership has extended into national and parliamentary spaces, including convening the Trauma-Responsive Parliamentary Policy Roundtable and House of Lords reception, bringing together policymakers, business leaders, system leaders and lived experience voices.
Tools, Programmes & Practical Delivery
We developed a suite of implementation-ready tools and programmes, including the Trauma-Informed and responsive Organisation Toolkit, the ATR Maturity Matrix, the Outcomes Framework and Readiness Checklist, the ATR Digital Hub, commissioning the Calderdale and Huddersfield BLOSM Trauma-Informed Navigator and 4 other A&E Navigator pathways, the Trauma-Informed Champions Programme, the ATR Fellowship, and the WY Foundation Train-the-Trainer Programme.
Lived Experience & Equity
Lived experience has been central to this work, shaping design, evaluation and leadership. This ensures that organisations and systems are designed with communities and workforces, not for them, and that structural inequality is explicitly recognised and addressed.
Research, Insight & Evaluation
Our work is underpinned by robust evaluation, including SROI, cost-avoidance modelling, mixed-method evaluation, and contribution to a potential international research collaboration through European partnership work exploring a COST Action on trauma and adversity.
Knowledge Exchange & Influence
We have delivered a sustained programme of annual conferences, events and Communities of Practice, in particular the West Yorkshire Knowledge Exchange. Alongside founding membership of the national Trauma-Informed Community of Practice, coordination of Trauma-Informed and responsive North, national policy and parliamentary engagement, and international collaboration. This positions the work as part of a connected regional, national and global movement.
Legacy & Impact
This work has created lasting change, a cultural shift in how adversity and behaviour are understood, stronger cross-sector collaboration, a more confident and capable workforce, embedded trauma-informed and responsive approaches across strategy and delivery, and a sustained commitment to prevention and change. It has also created the conditions for continued growth, with We Are ATR now carrying this work forward across wider organisations, sectors and geographies.
This is not a programme that delivered activity. It is a model that has delivered change, now extending beyond the UK, enabling us to bring global evidence, learning and practice into local organisations and systems, and to share learning from West Yorkshire with partners worldwide.
Independent Evaluation
Our work has been independently evaluated by partners including Rocket Science and Humankind, alongside academic collaborators across West Yorkshire universities. Evaluation activity has included mixed-method designs (quantitative tools, qualitative interviews and focus groups, case study work, practitioner feedback loops, and where appropriate SROI approaches). Findings have consistently highlighted improvements in workforce confidence and capability, stronger cross-agency collaboration, and clearer pathways for people to access support earlier. We bring this evaluation rigour and our willingness to be scrutinised to every new partnership.