A NEW trauma centre is being launched in Glasgow led by the psychologist who counselled victims of the bin lorry disaster.
The Glasgow Psychological Trauma Service will support to people who have experienced complex traumatic events such as major incidents, domestic abuse, childhood abuse, war and human traffiking.
The new service brings together the specialist resources from five different areas of NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde to deliver a single “complex trauma” unit on a single site in the Anchor Centre in Govan.
More than 600 people are expected to be supported annually.
The new service is led by Cconsultant Cclinical Ppsychologist Dr Lisa Reynolds, who was among the first to be called in to help with the psychological trauma experienced by victims of both the Clutha helicopter crash disaster and George Square bin lorry incident. 
She said: “Complex traumatic experiences such as childhood abuse, domestic violence, homelessness, human trafficking and major incidents can have an impact on survivors’ mental health and psychological functioning. The service is designed to provide a specialist mental health service to these survivors to ensure that they have easy access to high quality, evidence based treatments and interventions. 
“We absolutely recognise the impact of psychological trauma following a traumatic event. 
“As a result, we have a staff of 27, including clinical psychologists and occupational therapists, who will be working with these vulnerable groups. An important aspect of our work is that we’re committed to sharing our knowledge and skills to ensure our Health and Social Care Partnership is both working closely and understands trauma.” 
The centre also brings together expertise in working with young people, homeless individuals and female offenders who all have an increased risk of experiencing complex trauma. 
Referrals are made through community mental health teams.