Barnahus Ireland - Trauma-informed Care Professional Education Project

The project’s main aim is to develop a training programme in trauma-informed care, incorporating advocacy and participation, for professionals involved in the implementation of Barnahus Ireland. A Barnahus provides “multidisciplinary and interagency collaboration to ensure that child survivors and witnesses of violence benefit from a child-friendly, professional and effective response in a safe environment which prevents (re)traumatisation” (Lind Haldorsson, 2017). The training will embed a shared interagency, multidisciplinary response, underpinned by trauma-informed practices, in Barnahus Ireland informing intervention at each stage of child and family’s journey through the care pathway (initial referral, investigation, court proceeding, therapeutic support).

https://www.coe.int/en/web/children/barnahus-ireland

https://www.coe.int/en/web/children/-/advanced-trauma-informed-care-training-on-child-sexual-abuse-cases-for-professionals-working-in-barnahus-in-ireland

BI-TARA

Barnahus Ireland: Trauma, Attachment, Resilience into Action (BI-TARA) is the underpinning conceptual framework for the trainings. BI-TARA is a child-centred practice model that drives the embedding of trauma-informed practices within each participant’s role in meeting the Barnahus standards. BI-TARA is an adaptation of the TARA model that supports embedding trauma-informed care in child serving systems of care in Ireland through concrete practices (Lotty et al., 2023, 2024) The model provides six dimensions of practice that supports how the principles of trauma-informed care, including child advocacy and participation are implemented in Barnahus in Ireland.

Project Manuals (Forthcoming)

• Lotty, M., McCabe, B, Hegarty, S., McElvaney, R., Deacon, A., Lacey, E., O’Reilly, K., & Roarty, S. (2026). Barnahus Ireland Implementation Training: Foundation Level Facilitator’s Guide. Council of Europe.
• Lotty, M., McCabe, B, Hegarty, S., McElvaney, R., Deacon, A., Lacey, E., O’Reilly, K., & Roarty, S. (2026). Barnahus Ireland Implementation Training: Foundation Level Participants’ Toolkit. Council of Europe.
• Lotty, M., McCabe, B, Hegarty, S., McElvaney, R., Deacon, A., Lacey, E., O’Reilly, K., & Roarty, S. (2026). Barnahus Ireland Implementation Training: Advanced Level Facilitator’s Guide. Council of Europe.
• Lotty, M., McCabe, B, Hegarty, S., McElvaney, R., Deacon, A., Lacey, E., O’Reilly, K., & Roarty, S. (2026). Barnahus Ireland Implementation Training: Advanced Level Toolkit. Council of Europe.

Barnahus Ireland related Research Articles

Forthcoming

Barnahus Ireland related Presentations/Conferencing

Lotty, M., McCabe, B., Hegarty, S., McElvaney, R., Deacon, A., Lacey, E., O'Reilly, K., Roarty, S., (2025, October 24). Beyond the siloes: Building capacity for a child rights-based approach to responding to child sexual abuse through Barnahus Ireland’ Oral Paper presented for the 10^th National Child Protection and Welfare Social Work Conference, University College Cork.

Lotty, M, Mc Cabe, B., McElvaney, R. and Lacey, E.,.  (October 7, 2025).’Building capacity for trauma-informed practice across child protective, law enforcement, and health services to realise the vision of Barnahus Ireland’ Oral paper presented at the ISPCAN (International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect) International Congress, Vilnius, Lithuania.

Lotty, M (2025, January 29). “Capacity-building and interagency coordination activities ‘ [invited speaker],   Final Conference of the Barnahus Project in Ireland  Joint EU-Council of Europe project - Support the implementation of the Barnahus project in Ireland, Government Buildings, Dublin.