What we do

Individual, Family and Group Psychotherapy

The NOVA Trauma Support Service began in August 1998 and works with around 120 families each year. Primarily NOVA offers a trauma-focused psychotherapy service to children, young people, adults and families. Therapy is offered on an outreach basis and family members can be seen together or individually; the choice is very much up to the families and individuals concerned. NOVA also responds to requests for trauma-focused group therapy.

Community Support: Training and Supervision

In addition to direct therapeutic work, NOVA also offers training and support to groups within communities.

When Living Hurts: Helping Ourselves and Others is a community-based training programme that aims to increase knowledge and skills in relation to trauma and its impact. Groups can contact NOVA to discuss a training programme that will be designed to meet their specific needs: ni.nova@barnardos.org.uk or (028) 3833 5173.

NOVA also provides supervision and mentoring support to staff and volunteers working in the 'victim-survivor' sector. Contact Nova for more details.

Music for Health Programme

NOVA's Music for Health programme offers a creative way to respond to stress and trauma. It is run by Dave Stewart, Senior Practitioner in NOVA. Dave has a training in music therapy and worked as a music therapist before joining the NOVA team. Music for Health is a group-based programme suitable for children, young people and adults. It aims to:

• provide a safe environment for exploring how sounds can sometimes say more than words;
• provide an opportunity to be heard and understood;
• lower stress and anxiety and raise self-esteem;
• enable participants make a creative response to stressful life experience.

The Music for Health programme can be used in three ways:

1. Staff Training - developing skills for using music therapeutically with children, young people and adults
2. Team Development - using music to develop communication and co-operation in a staff team
3. Therapeutic Support - a direct therapeutic service for children, young people and adults who have experienced stress or trauma

There is a Music for Health leaflet which gives further information about the programme music_for_health.pdf.  

Self-Help Information: The 'Coping with Trauma' Leaflets

NOVA is committed to providing effective psycho-education about trauma and its impact and has produced a series of five self-help leaflets. Each leaflet in the Coping with Trauma series uses jargon-free language and gives the reader clear information about how trauma affects body, mind, behaviour and relationships. The leaflets also offer effective self-help ideas for coping with trauma.

There is a leaflet for kids (using a picture vocabulary); one for parents of young children; another for young people and one for adults. The final leaflet in the series focuses on children's sleep difficulties, a very common occurence in the aftermath of trauma. You may download each of the 5 leaflets here:

• kids trauma talk for kids.pdf
• parents coping with trauma for parents.pdf
• young people trauma talk for young people.pdf
• adults coping with trauma for adults.pdf.

In addition to downloading the leaflets above you can also contact the NOVA office if you would like copies sent by post. Should you wish to use any part of the text in your own publications we would be happy to discuss this with you.

Influencing Policy and Practice: NOVA Publications

NOVA influences trauma-related policy and practice through presentations and publications. Below is a list of some NOVA publications. Copies are available from the NOVA office: ni.nova@barnardos.org.uk  or (028) 3833-5173.

'The Support Needs of those affected by the 'Troubles' - a research study'. Compiled by Brian Devlin. September 2000

'Working with Children and Young People in Violently Divided Societies - papers from South Africa and Northern Ireland'. (ed) Marie Smyth and Kirsten Thomson. Community Conflict Impact on Children. 2001 (available from Institute for Conflict Research)

When the trauma goes on…’ Article by Martin Murphy published in 'Human Givens' Journal, Spring 2001

World Forum 2001 Proceedings. The Children's Agenda - Familiar Issues, Emerging Concerns. August 2001. International Forum for Child Welfare.

'The Face Your Fear Club: Therapeutic Group Work as a Response to Community Trauma in Northern Ireland'. Article by David Stewart and Kirsten Thomson (in press) 2002.