We start by looking at a picture of a beautiful scene to create a tranquil starting point for this workshop. We define trauma then show some 9/11 photographs to lead into a discussion between ‘heroic’ one-off public trauma and shameful repeated private trauma. We then summarise and discuss what people say about the experience of trauma. Following this we do a continuum exercise on how much or little we each think trauma featured in the causes of our distress, our experience of using services, and the social or personal consequences of our distress. We then hear how some other people have overcome trauma, and pair up to share reflections from those stories or our own.