It makes me proud to say that I work for a team that has achieved the quality mark- it shows how good the service is.
Friendship Works Mentoring Service is proud to be the first service within Family Action to have achieved Working with Trauma Quality Mark at Silver Level: Trauma Informed.
This quality mark recognises how trauma informed working is implemented across the culture, practice and environment of the organisation and individual needs and well-being are prioritised. It has been wonderful to see the Friendship Works team’s commitment to trauma-informed practice throughout the process.
The very nature of our Friendship Works model, offering long-term relational volunteer mentoring to young people who have experienced significant disruption in their lives, emphasises safety, trust, choice, collaboration and empowerment.
It has been a rigorous process to achieve this Working with Trauma Quality Mark at Silver Level, with a written submission and evidence, assessment day and resubmission.
Sophie Large, Programme Lead, Friendship Works Youth Mentoring Services, tells us that “the process was started by a previous manager, and having only joined the team in February 2025, I could not have got this submission over the finish line without the amazing Friendship Works team. I also have to say a big thanks to other Family Action colleagues who contributed to our submission with their expertise on Family Action policies. The process has given us the space to reflect and collaborate, identifying not only what we do well but what we can also do better.”
In an ever-competitive funding landscape, with an increasing an emphasis on short-term interventions, Friendship Works is loyal to its values first established in 1977. This quality mark reaffirms that Friendship Works, works.
I could not be prouder of our small but mighty mentoring service for achieving this quality mark - here’s to another 50 years of Friendship Works providing trauma-informed support to young Londoners.
Quotes from the Friendship Works team:
It’s important that the careful thought, consideration and hard work that the Friendship Works team puts into working with young people, their families and carers, and with volunteer mentors, is seen and recognised. That’s why this award means so much to me. Well done to the Friendship Works team.
I’m over the moon that we’ve achieved the Silver Trauma-Informed Award! It’s such a positive reflection of all our hard work and compassion. Feeling incredibly proud and inspired to keep making a difference. Go team Friendship Works.
It’s great to know that our hard work and the way we work as a team is being appreciated and celebrated.
