This evaluation examines both the co-design process for the training and the rollout of the pilot training programme. In relation to the co-design process, the evaluation captures the crucial role of the SAOL Project as the host organisation, in particular as the impact of Covid19 increased and intensified the significant challenges involved for the women participating in the co-design workshops. Partaking in this process meant that those who gave so freely of their expertise paid the price, at times, of reliving stigma-related trauma from their past. We were fortunate to have skilled Co-facilitators, as well as the back-up of the SAOL team, in ensuring this process was both safe and beneficial for participants and it is certainly a process that required more time and resources than we first imagined. We want to recognise the flexibility and support of IRHEC in adjusting dates to assist us in keeping the process safe and healthy, one that, in the end, provided such a successful outcome that the adage ‘make haste slowly’ seems most fitting.

In relation to the pilot training programme, the evaluation finds that the overall expectations that participants had of the training have been met, while at the same time providing a number of practical suggestions for improvements in presentation and content. What is most encouraging is the finding that this pilot training programme has made a difference that is statistically significant – this represents clear and independent evidence of the effectiveness of the training and of the potential for rolling it out on a broader basis.