Our framework spans five distinct stages of organisational and individual growth. From foundational awareness to systemic cultural shifts, we provide the tools to build a sustainable, trauma-informed environment.
Within our model, we offer Sector-Specific Pathways designed to meet the unique needs of your workforce and the people you serve.
This specialised pathway is designed for organisations working with youth, focusing on safety, professional boundaries, and empowerment. It scales across the five stages of the TICS model:
Stage 1 (Awareness): Building foundational knowledge in trauma awareness, personal wellbeing, emotional safety, and healthy relationships.
Stage 2 (Application): Developing practical skills for daily interactions and applying trauma-informed principles to youth support.
Stage 3 (Integration): Embedding reflective practice into youth-facing roles to ensure consistency and emotional regulation.
Stage 4 (Consolidation): Refining specialised support techniques and aligning youth-related policies with trauma-informed values.
Stage 5 (Systems Change): Advanced advocacy, policy influence, and leadership development for those pursuing careers in lived-experience expertise.
We provide tailored support for Lived Experience professionals to ensure they thrive in their roles.
For Individuals: Training ranges from Trauma-Informed Peer Support to Becoming a Lived Experience Worker.
For Peer Groups: We can facilitate cross-organisational training to build a community of practice among LE workers.
The LEX Workforce package was developed to bridge the gap between hiring lived-experience talent and actually sustaining it. Grounded in positive youth development and organisational theory, the program was born from a "scholar-practitioner" model—blending academic rigor with real-world lived expertise.
Created by Lacy Dicharry, an international expert in lived experience leadership, the package was first implemented as a comprehensive 12–16 month systems-change initiative for a state-wide governmental department in New Jersey. Today, it serves as a holistic workforce model that moves beyond individual training to ensure that the entire ecosystem—supervisors, HR, and culture—is "LEX-ready" and capable of empowering staff safely and sustainably.
Supporting Lived Experience (LEX) workers effectively requires more than individual training—it requires organisational readiness. The LEX Workforce package is a program that ensures your supervisors, HR processes, and culture are equipped to support LE staff sustainably.
Holistic Model: It is a comprehensive workforce model, not a single course.
Evidence-Based: Grounded in positive youth development and scholar-practitioner models.
Co-Created: Begins with a deep needs analysis and organisational scoping.
Integrated: We can weave in existing training or specific modules from the Young People's Pathway.
Case Study: In New Jersey, the LEX Workforce process spanned 16 months, transforming a whole governmental department by embedding lived-experience expertise at every level of the system.
We are committed to a scholar-practitioner approach. While research specifically focusing on care leavers within the residential sector is an evolving field, we provide a library of related academic research to support the implementation of our models.
To ensure we provide the right solution for your budget and scope, we invite you to clarify your current commissioning priorities:
Are you looking for standalone training for staff/young people?
Are you interested in a long-term systems change via the LEX Workforce package?
For more information or to discuss how TICS can support you to apply a Lived Experience model to your workplace, please contact our Working Together Lead Lyndsay at lyndsay@ticservicesltd.com
