Trauma network for victims of the Troubles helps over 9,000 people in first year

A network created to address the mental trauma of the Troubles has helped over 9,000 people in its first year.

A commitment from the 2014 Stormont House Agreement, the Regional Trauma Network (RTN) has been fully operational since last February and connects specialist trauma care across health trusts, the Victims and Survivors Service and their funded community and voluntary organisations.

Professor Ciaran Mulholland, a consultant psychiatrist from Queen’s University and the RTN’s Clinical Director, said most people accessed “low-level” help like support groups while others more severely affected by psychological disturbance received help from the health sector.

“It is a remarkable number of people and victims and survivors are being created every year unfortunately,” he said.

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“The vast majority of people we provide therapies to suffered trauma between the 1970s and early 1990s.”

Research from the Ulster University in 2011 previously found that 40% of Northern Ireland’s adult population had suffered “significant Troubles related trauma.”

Around 118,000 adults (8.8% of the population) were also estimated to meet the criteria for PTSD at some point in their lives, with a quarter (27%) related to the Troubles.

“Some people have come forward for help that were traumatised in some very high-profile events from decades ago,” Prof Mulholland said.

“Events that everyone that was alive at the time remember. These are people you would think have come forward before, but haven’t for whatever reason.

“But in 2024, we have now created a service that is sufficiently well-known, that is accessible for individuals to come forward.

“Even if your trauma was many decades ago and your symptoms feel very stuck, we know we can make a difference.

“We know it’s harder to treat trauma in the distant past, but it is still possible.”

Prof Mulholland acknowledged the controversy surrounding the British Government’s Legacy Act, which prevents any new inquests or civil cases relating to the Troubles.

“Many of the people we come across are troubled by it, no doubt about it. It bothers them that they can’t pursue their case and get truth or justice,” he said.

“There are other people who have a different view, it’s not uniform.

“In the therapy sector we stand apart from that. But if it’s an issue that’s weighing on someone’s mind, we pay very close attention to it.”

Among those helped by the services available has been Paul Gallagher, who was paralysed at the age of 21 after being shot in his west Belfast home by loyalist paramilitaries 30 years ago.

It was another 16 years before he would engage with the WAVE Trauma Centre, one of the many organisations that has come under the umbrella of the RTN.

After completing a PhD, he now works for WAVE’s trauma education team.

“It was life-changing for me in many ways, doing short courses in trauma with other people with similar experiences,” he said.

“It gave me an understanding of where I had been the previous 16 years, what I was going through and how I was coping and even not coping over the years.”

His work has allowed him to pass on his expertise in trauma to other frontline services – through teaching student nurses, social workers and medical students.

He said many of the “walking wounded” from the Troubles don’t realise they are eligible for help.

“They just think that was part of everyone’s life. But myself, I was living for 15 years without any real purpose after what happened to me.

“I was trying to find a new place for myself, I found that within WAVE, I wasn’t just coming for individual services.

“It was more for the social connection. I’ve been involved in the WAVE injured group, bringing forward the injured pension that is now in place.

“That was something I got to be involved in, it was being in a place where people understood you unlike the general public.”

He said the services on offer included helping isolated people reengage with society, help with education and physiotherapy and even fuel payments for people with bad circulation.

“People just don’t know about it and that’s half the problem.”

Further information about the Regional Trauma Network is available online, and anyone that feels they may be affected can talk to their GP about accessing services.