Dr Sonia A Petersen

Dr. Sonia A Petersen is a Principal Educator for NHS Education for Scotland as part of the National Trauma Training Programme, specialising in the impact of psychological trauma and trauma informed approaches for victims and witnesses within the criminal justice process. She is the co-author of the soon-to-be published “Trauma Informed Justice: A Knowledge and Skills Framework for working with Victims and Witnesses”. She has had a core role in the development and delivery of training regarding the impact of psychological trauma on people affected by crime and trauma informed approaches to a wide variety of justice professionals, and health and social care professionals.

Dr. Petersen qualified as a Clinical Psychologist in 2014 and subsequently worked within specialist forensic mental health services and a specialist national psychological trauma service as a Clinical Psychologist for several years. Across these services she has worked intensively with victims, witnesses and offenders affected by complex psychological trauma at an individual and systems level. She has conducted in-depth qualitative research into the experiences of survivors of domestic abuse with justice agencies in Scotland. She holds a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology, a Master of Science in Forensic Psychology and a BSc Hons Psychology.