Trauma-Informed Practice in Hospitality

Someone waits outside the door until it is quieter. A customer will not sit with their back to the room. A queue goes tense. In a café, food bank, kitchen, pub or hotel you will meet people who have lived through hard things, often without knowing it. This course shows how to serve, seat and speak to people in a way that does not add to anyone’s distress, and how to look after yourself on shift.

Who this course is for

• Front-of-house and kitchen staff in cafés, pubs and hotels
• Staff and volunteers in community cafés, food banks, soup kitchens, and hostel and day-centre kitchens
• Volunteers who help out at a food bank, soup kitchen or community meal
• Anyone new to the subject: no earlier training is needed

What you’ll learn

• What trauma-informed practice means in food settings, and its six principles on shift
• A safe space: noise, light and layout, seats and exits, queues and waiting, choice around food, and signs and words
• At the door and the counter: someone who is homeless asks for help, a customer who flinches, queue tension at a food bank, and a customer who is upset
• De-escalation and your own safety, using HSE’s advice, including lone, early and late shifts, and when to call a manager or the police
• When someone tells you something: where your part ends, the safeguarding link, signposting and telling the right person
• Looking after yourself and your team on shift, after a hard incident, and what your workplace should offer

How it works

Six lessons, each split into short topics with a “Remember” box at the end. Every lesson finishes with its own assessment of 10 questions drawn at random from its question bank, so no two attempts are the same. The course ends with a final exam of 20 questions drawn from a bank of more than 40 covering everything. The pass mark is 80% and you get three attempts at each assessment. Finish the course and your certificate, with your name and a reference anyone can check, is issued to My Account → Certificates.

12 months’ access · any device · certificate the moment you pass

Worth being clear about: this course is awareness, not treatment. It is not a qualification, it is not training to diagnose anyone or to ask what happened to them, and it does not replace your organisation’s own training, safeguarding and emergency procedures. It covers food and community settings across the UK.

Course content

• Before you startLesson
• Trauma-informed practice at the counter, the hatch and the tableLesson
• Why this matters in food settingsTopic
• What trauma-informed means, in one pageTopic
• The six principles, on shiftTopic
• Do not assumeTopic
• Scenario: The side doorTopic
• 🎮 Practice: What does it ask of you?Topic
• Lesson Assessment: Trauma-informed practice at the counter, the hatch and the tableQuiz
• A safe space: the room, the queue and the menuLesson
• Noise, light and layoutTopic
• Seats, exits and choosing where to sitTopic
• Queues and waitingTopic
• Choice around food and how it is servedTopic
• Signs, words and dignityTopic
• Scenario: The table by the machineTopic
• 🎮 Practice: Calm queuesTopic
• Lesson Assessment: A safe space: the room, the queue and the menuQuiz
• At the door and the counter: everyday situationsLesson
• Someone who is homeless asks at the doorTopic
• A customer who flinches, or will not sit with their back to the roomTopic
• Queue tension at a food bankTopic
• A customer who is upset or distressedTopic
• Colleagues and volunteers who bring their own experienceTopic
• Scenario: Waiting outsideTopic
• 🎮 Practice: A customer is upsetTopic
• Lesson Assessment: At the door and the counter: everyday situationsQuiz
• De-escalation and your own safetyLesson
• When someone is angry: what counts as work-related violenceTopic
• HSE’s basic techniques, with a trauma-informed lensTopic
• Trust your instincts: step back, divert, use your emergency procedureTopic
• Lone, early and late shiftsTopic
• When to call a manager, and when to call the policeTopic
• Scenario: Raised voices in the queueTopic
• 🎮 Practice: When calming does not workTopic
• Lesson Assessment: De-escalation and your own safetyQuiz
• When someone tells you something, and where your part endsLesson
• When a customer tells you somethingTopic
• Your role has limitsTopic
• The safeguarding linkTopic
• SignpostingTopic
• Telling the right person, and writing a short noteTopic
• Scenario: At the hatchTopic
• 🎮 Practice: When someone tells you somethingTopic
• Lesson Assessment: When someone tells you something, and where your part endsQuiz
• Looking after yourself and your team on shiftLesson
• How a hard shift can affect youTopic
• Small steps during the shiftTopic
• A colleague who is strugglingTopic
• After an incident or a very hard shiftTopic
• What your workplace should offer, and your action listTopic
• Scenario: After closingTopic
• 🎮 Practice: You and your workplaceTopic
• Lesson Assessment: Looking after yourself and your team on shiftQuiz
• Course summaryLesson
• Final examQuiz