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Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are highly prevalent in people with developmental disorders who engage in offending behaviour. Many violence-based risk assessment tools include items pertaining to ACEs, and may inflate risk scores in trauma-exposed groups. This paper aims to explore the relationships between ACEs, risk assessment scores, incidents of risk and restrictive practices, in adolescents with developmental disorders in a forensic inpatient setting.

Secondary analysis was conducted on clinical data for 34 adolescents detained to a developmental disorder service. Data were extracted for Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) risk scores and risk behaviours and restrictive practices, as measures of observed risk.

Participants exposed to more ACEs had higher SAVRY risk scores (p < 0.001, two-tailed), with elevations specifically on the historical subscale (p < 0.001, two-tailed). Neither ACEs nor risk scores were associated with the frequency of risk behaviours. Nevertheless, participants exposed to four or more ACEs were secluded more frequently (p = 0.015, two-tailed), indicating a potential association between trauma and risk severity. Those with more complex developmental disorders experienced fewer ACEs (p = 0.02, two-tailed) and engaged in self-harm behaviours less frequently (p = 0.04, two-tailed).

The inclusion of ACEs in risk assessment tools may lead to the inadvertent stigmatization of trauma-exposed individuals. Further investigation is necessary to offer clarity on the impact of early adversity on risk assessment accuracy and levels of institutional risk, and the role of developmental disorders in this relationship.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to explore the relative associations between ACEs, risk assessment scores and observed institutional risk and does so in a highly marginalized population.

Forensic health-care workers are frequently exposed to behaviours that challenge and traumatic material, with notably high levels in developmental disorder (DD) services. The provision of support is key in alleviating distress and improving work functioning. This paper aims to incite clarity on whether staff in DD services are more likely to access trauma support. The prevailing needs and outcomes for this population are also explored.

Data was extracted retrospectively from a database held by an internal trauma support service (TSS) for staff working in a secure psychiatric hospital. Overall, 278 permanent clinical staff accessed the TSS between 2018 and 2020, 102 (36.7%) of whom worked in an adult DD forensic inpatient service.

Staff working in DD services were over-represented in referrals to the TSS with a greater number of referrals per bed in DD services than in non-DD services (0.94 vs 0.33). DD staff were comparatively more likely to access support for non-physical, psychologically traumatic experiences. Psychological needs and outcomes following support were comparable between staff across services.

The findings highlight the more frequent need for trauma support of staff in forensic inpatient DD settings. Embedding a culture of safety and openness, and establishing appropriate and responsive models of staff support reflect key priorities for inpatient DD health-care providers, for the universal benefit of the organisation, workforce and service users.

This study offers novel insight into levels of access to support for staff working with people with DDs.

Aarhus Kommunes Biblioteker (Teknisk Bibliotek), Ingerslevs Plads 7, Aarhus, Denmark. Representative: V. NEDERGAARD PEDERSEN (Librarian).

Samuel Banner & Co. Ltd., 59–61, Sandhills Lane, Liverpool, L5 9XL, have been appointed UK Distributors for IMC Chemie GmbH, who are a wholly owned subsidiary of International Minerals and chemicals corporation, of Chicago U.S.A. The nitro paraffins division of IMC is the only world‐wide producer of commercial quantities of nitro paraffins.

The necessary disadvantages contingent upon a time of war grow in emphasis, and one of these is undoubtedly the infrequency of the gatherings of the Library Association. As a result there has been so far no means of ventilating the question of a Library Association Conference for 1918. We have turned in vain to the pages of the official journal for any record of the intentions of the Council in this direction; and the complaints which were justly made last year as to the delay in making arrangements or at least preliminary announcements seem to have been without effect. This is a state of affairs which the profession should not endure calmly. No conference held in September or thereabouts can be expected to succeed unless it is announced before June. It may be that the Council works in spasmodic fashion, and is under the comfortable delusion that everybody else does. It should be disabused of this notion speedily. Many librarians have already made their arrangements for the summer, and will not be turned from them by the tardy decisions of Caxton Hall. As for the general question of whether a conference should be held or not, it must be clear to most of us that all the arguments that weighed for a conference in 1917 are equally weighty in 1918.

IT would appear from a recent report in a London evening paper that for ten years there has been at least one dissentient from the interloan system that unites all the other 16 London Boroughs. Hampstead residents who work in Chelsea are not permitted to use their home tickets there. Hampstead's appeal to the Metropolitan Borough's Joint Standing Committee to ask the other London boroughs to join her in refusing to honour Chelsea's tickets until she “comes in” has been met by the answer that such action by the Committee would be inappropriate. So Hampstead, at the time of writing, had determined herself to write to the boroughs concerned. We have not heard with what result.

The last two decades have seen an increase in service user involvement (SUI) in the training of Mental Health Professionals (MHP). There is developing empirical support for SUI in MHP training, however, there is no published research into SUI in the training of Cognitive Behavioural Therapists. The purpose of this paper is to explore cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) trainees’ experience of SUI in their training. The study focuses on how an individual service user (SU) led training session is experienced and how this differs to routine CBT training.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants. Transcripts of the interviews were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Data revealed three superordinate themes: first, predisposing influences on learning; second, factors associated with emotional processing of experience; and third, impact upon learning outcomes. The results suggest that participants’ appraisal of their learning from SUI maybe influenced by how they accommodate the emotional impact of the experience.

The paper makes recommendations for educators on courses involving service users (SUs), acknowledges the study’s methodological limitations and suggests areas for future research.