March On Stress >> TRiM FAQs

Here are some of the most common questions we are asked about TRiM training. We hope our TRiM FAQs help to answer your questions and dispel some myths and if have any further questions – please contact us!

TRiM FAQs

1. What exactly is TRiM?

Trauma Risk management (TRiM) is a trauma-focused peer support system. TRiM Practitioners are trained to spot signs of distress that may go unnoticed, through a structured risk assessment process. They are supported by TRiM Managers, who oversee Practitioners and co-ordinate a TRiM response.

2. Why do we need TRiM Managers?

We would strongly recommend an organisation with a team of TRiM Practitioners to have TRiM Managers in order to ensure you get the most out of TRiM. TRiM Managers (who must first have completed a Practitioners course) are much fewer in number than Practitioners, for example you may have a team of 10-20 TRiM Practitioners and two TRiM Managers. They co-ordinate an organisation/department’s TRiM response, supervise Practitioners, refresh their training and are also provided with a trauma/TRiM awareness presentation so that they can brief other members of their organisation about trauma and the TRiM process and how it is to be used in their organisation.

3. What is a TRiM Co-ordinator?

Some organisations have a TRiM Co-ordinator role, someone who assists in the implementation, administration and running of the TRiM team and may include tasks such as arranging training and monitoring refresher needs, developing TRiM Policy and procedure (governance), providing documentation or contact information, and liaising with members of the TRiM team to support them. Sometimes this role is performed by a TRiM Manager. A specific co-ordinator role is not essential, but can be very helpful to a smooth running TRiM team. What is critical for a TRiM team is to ensure there are TRiM Managers in place.

4. How many TRiM Practitioners and Managers does my organisation need?

It is difficult to give exact numbers for how many TRiM Practitioners and Managers you should have, as every organisation has different needs. We recommend ensuring a good spread across the organisation, so that you have a TRiM Manager and Practitioner available across different departments, geographical locations, shift patterns if relevant, to cover annual leave and so that your TRiM Managers or Practitioners are not overloaded.

5. Is TRiM the same, no matter who trains it?

No. TRiM is not licensed or trademarked, which means, in theory, anyone can claim to train it. However, unless the trainers are competent in the way they deliver the teaching objectives, have frontline trauma experience, as well as access to a good understanding of the academic basis of TRiM and its practical use, and the latest supporting evidence, then it is likely that the quality of delivery will be poor.

6. Why does a TRiM Practitioner course have to be two days long – I heard you could do it in a day?

To properly teach the whole of the TRiM process, covering individual and group risk assessments and importantly to give delegates sufficient chance to practice the TRiM skills and to gain some confidence in using those skills within their workplace, one day is not enough. The two-day model works – we’ve tried and tested it for 20 years with consistently fabulous feedback.

To discuss other one-day training options, please contact us.

7. Why do prices of TRiM vary so much?

One reason is that the quality and content of TRiM courses can vary from provider to provider. Also resilience among providers may vary – some are ‘one-man bands’, others see opportunity but will not be around for long. At March on Stress our academic and operational experience is second to none, as is our customer service – we have not only undergone the external scrutiny necessary to offer BTEC qualifications with our courses but have been training TRiM courses to a highly diverse range of organisations, around the globe, for 20 years. Importantly, we ensure our course content is in line with the latest research.

8. Some TRiM providers would say I was qualified to train TRiM after just a few days training myself – is this the case?

Of course it depends on the individual but our belief, based upon our considerable experience, is that TRiM Trainers have to adhere to certain standards, be experienced in terms of having dealt with trauma and have undergone a thorough training process in order to ensure quality and integrity of the TRiM training they provide. The content of March on Stress TRiM courses, for example, is based on decades of academic and operational experience and continues to be updated with the very latest evidence and research.

We offer a Train the Trainer programme for organisations that are looking to train their own personnel as TRiM Practitioner Trainers. It is a thorough and extensive process to ensure the high standard required to deliver our training. Please contact us for details if you are interested to know more.

9. What difference does the BTEC make?

The BTEC is a great opportunity to gain a nationally-recognised qualification from your training. It involves completing an assignment after your training, requiring you to utilise your new TRiM skills and knowledge and therefore bolstering the learning from the course. Having the TRiM BTEC is also a great addition to a CPD file. The BTEC Level 3 and Level 5 are customised BTEC qualifications, which sit on the Pearson self-regulated framework. As a Learning Centre, March on Stress undergoes annual verification visits to ensure the standards and quality of the TRiM BTECs offered.

10. I have heard REACTMH® is included in the training, what is this?

REACTMH® is a tool, developed by experts at March on Stress, which aims to help people to have psychologically savvy and supportive conversations with a colleague about their mental health. There’s very good evidence that many distressed people may not appreciate that they are struggling, or if they do know they may not want, or be able, to seek help. Being able to speak with a supportive supervisor or colleague is especially useful for team members who are dealing with repeated exposure to potentially traumatic events (PTEs) or working in stressful environments.

REACTMH fits very well with the TRiM model, with TRiM Practitioners being one pathway of support that could be signposted to following a REACTMH chat. REACTMH is, therefore, a tool that can be taught to all supervisors and managers to boost organisation-wide mental health support and awareness.

A short taste of REACTMH is included within the March on Stress two-day TRiM Practitioner course – and to arrange a full REACTMH session, please contact us. As with other March on Stress services, REACTMH is based on good evidence and research. More information is available here.

11. What are the TRiM standards?

The TRiM standards set out what is expected of those who are TRiM-trained, from Practitioner and Manager level through to Instructor. They include information about how often refresher training should be undertaken to keep skills up to date. The standards are adhered to by March on Stress and the Armed Forces TRiM teams. They are self-imposed, because we believe in offering TRiM training of the highest quality. You can view the TRiM standards here.

12. Can TRiM be tailored to specific audiences?

Absolutely – while the TRiM risk assessment process is specific, we deliver TRiM to a range of organisations and we can and have included and adapted content. Please contact us to discuss your needs and the options available.

13. What happens after a training course?

We keep in touch with delegates via our newsletters, including sending reminders about staying in date as TRiM Practitioners/Managers. We also send relevant materials to delegates, for example a TRiM CPD logbook is sent to all course delegates after training and we issue TRIM Managers with a PowerPoint to assist them to deliver refresher sessions to their Practitioners, as well as TRiM Incident logbooks to assist in managing a TRiM response. We are always available for questions and queries you may have and we keep in touch with the course organiser/TRiM lead to offer follow up consultation and support - including a review with our Operations Team to discuss how things are going once TRIM is up and running within the organisation.

14. We have support and occupational health procedures in place, how will TRiM work with what we have?

TRiM dovetails into an organisation’s existing support structures – simply and effectively detecting those that need support as soon as possible. It is perhaps no surprise that many of the academic TRiM publications have been published in occupational health journals. We have links to a number of these on the TRiM research page on our website here.

15. What else should we consider when implementing TRiM?

TRiM Policy - have a policy in place to support TRiM, this helps to organise and structure the approach and sets out a commitment from the top of the organisation. We can advise on policy, please contact us to discuss.
TRiM and trauma awareness briefings – these are important for leaders – so they understand and support the process and also for staff to be aware that TRiM is available as a supportive measure to them. Consider a short TRiM briefing as part of staff inductions. Your TRiM Manager will be able to advise, or we can provide sessions as required.
Internal communications – the briefings above are one element of internal comms, let people know TRiM is available in your organisation, we have TRiM materials that can help with this.
Review – ensure a regular review of TRiM, how is it working in your organisation? do you need to refresh your Practitioners, train new Managers or Practitioners? Are there CPD opportunities coming up that would help your TRiM team?

16. Do you offer remote training?

Yes we do offer remote training. We deliver this ‘live’ just like our face-to-face courses, and we can deliver via Zoom or MS Teams. Face-to-face training in a classroom, as you would expect, is ideal but we get very good feedback from our remote courses and they are a good option if needs must. While remote courses do not attract travel and subsistence expense fees, delegate numbers have to be limited to ensure engagement.

Our TRiM all comers courses also run remotely, with face to face options a couple of times a year.

For more information on training options, please get in touch.

17. Is there pre-reading for your TRiM courses?

There is no required pre-reading, we will provide all of the course materials you need on your TRiM course, including on our TRiM Practitioners course, a TRiM manual.

If you are interested in wider reading on TRiM, we have links to a number of TRiM papers and related research, here.

18. What is the difference between TRiM and debriefing/CISM (Critical Incident Stress Management)?

We are often asked about alternative approaches to dealing with trauma and how to treat people after an incident, with debriefing often cited. If you have ever wondered why we advocate TRiM instead of debriefing, here is PTSD and trauma expert Professor Neil Greenberg’s analysis of key differences between the two approaches:

TRiM is backed by a wealth of evidence (See this link for more: http://www.marchonstress.com/page/p/trim_articles_and_research) whereas we are not aware of any high quality studies of debriefing methods such as Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) or Critical Incident Stress Management (CISM) as a comprehensive strategy to deal with trauma in terms of demonstrating that it does no harm and makes a positive difference.

TRiM is wholly compliant with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) approach to ‘active monitoring' (formerly 'watchful waiting’) after a traumatic incident – NICE advises not to do psychological debriefing (please click here and see para 1.6.5 for more details https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng116/chapter/Recommendations).

Debriefing has been shown to potentially cause more harm (Sijbrandij et al. 2006 available via: http://bjp.rcpsych.org/content/189/2/150) than simply doing nothing.

A 2015 study makes recommendations not to undertake debriefing. The paper states: “The reviewers concluded that debriefing interventions should not be delivered on a routine basis and that if a traumatic incident occurs in the workplace, employees should be offered psychological first aid, emotional and instrumental support and ongoing monitoring.” (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26620157 for the full article)

19. Why TRiM by March on Stress?

March on Stress is the UKs leading provider of TRiM training, established in 2003, we have been delivering TRiM training for 20 years. In that time, we have worked with organisations large and small, in the UK and overseas. March on Stress Managing Director, Professor Neil Greenberg, is one of the country’s most eminent psychiatrists and experts in operational stress (including PTSD). Neil served in the Armed Forces for more than 23 years and was at the forefront of the development of TRiM. In addition to his role at March on Stress, he is Professor of Defence Mental Health at King’s College London, where he continues to have access to the most up to date evidence and research and continues to carry out a range of academic work related to trauma. His vast experience is used to shape TRiM by March on Stress. Neil’s biography is available here.

Added to this, the March on Stress operational team is led by the country’s leading TRiM trainers – Gavin Rogers and Roy Scott MBE. Together, they have more than 60 years military service, and have delivered hundreds of TRiM courses. Our Operations Manager Zoé Brooke has a clinical background, along with extensive TRiM specific experience within the voluntary sector. We are further supported by a team of associate trainers, all with significant training and trauma experience. More details about our training team can be found here.

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TRiM FAQs