Dr Beverley Samways (Audio); Why Self-Injury in Non-Speaking People Is Often Misread. Trauma Gets Missed in Learning Disability Care

This conversation explores Dr Beverley Samways work with people with learning disabilities who have experienced trauma and use little or no spoken communication. The discussion focuses on how self-injury has often been misunderstood through behavioural frameworks, and why a more relational, trauma-informed approach can reveal what people are actually trying to communicate. It also covers the role of grief, culture, power, and co-regulation in care.Beverley Samways, founder of Unique Connections and author of Unspoken Stories, shares findings from her PhD and years of frontline work. Naomi Murphy and David Jones bring in their own clinical reflections, especially around psychodynamic practice, person-centred care, and the importance of really seeing the person in front of you.

Unspoken Stories: Learning to Listen to People with Intellectual Disabilities who are Non-Speaking. https://pavpub.com/health-and-social-care/health-autism/unspoken-stories-learning-to-listen-to-people-with-intellectual-disabilities-who-are-non-speaking

Key topics

• In this episode, Beverley explains how Unspoken Stories grew out of her PhD research with three teenagers who had learning disabilities, little or no speech, and histories of self-injury.
• She challenges the long-standing tendency to interpret self-injury in learning disability services mainly through applied behavioural analysis and “challenging behaviour.”
• Beverley argues that distress is often rooted in trauma, grief, attachment, and adverse experiences, not just immediate environmental triggers.
• She describes how, in her research, all three participants had trauma histories and all three eventually communicated more than they had on paper, despite being labelled non-verbal.
• Naomi reflects on her own shift from a behavioural placement into person-centred and sensory motor psychotherapeutic work, connecting Beverley’s account to Valerie Sinason’s influence.
• Beverley shares how communication happened differently with each young person, including drawing and writing with Cassie, and silent co-regulation and bodily attunement with Owen.
• The conversation returns repeatedly to the idea that people who do not speak still have a unique voice, and that listening long enough can reveal it.
• Beverley explains that many experiences become traumatic more easily for non-speaking people, especially hospital procedures, restraint, repeated transitions, and hidden grief.
• The episode also examines why care systems can become harmful, including the role of institutional culture, power, fear of emotion, and the pressure to keep people “happy.”
• Beverley describes how the sector is shifting slowly toward therapeutic and trauma-informed models, and how Unique Connections is trying to support that change one school and one team at a time.

Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction to Dr Beverly Samways and her work with trauma, learning disabilities, and non-speaking communication(01:30) How Unspoken Stories emerged from PhD research with three teenagers and their histories of self-injury(05:14) Why self-harm research shows similar patterns across geography and time(05:52) Beverley’s background in children’s social care, residential settings, and therapeutic training(08:47) The traditional behavioural approach to self-injury and why it can miss emotional meaning(14:08) How trauma exposure is much more common for people with learning disabilities, especially non-speaking people(17:09) Research methods that relied on time, presence, and psychodynamic attunement rather than words alone(19:11) How communication emerged differently with Cassie and Owen through drawing, silence, and co-regulation(21:08) Psychodynamic influences from Valerie Sinason, Anne Alvarez, and Frances Tustin(23:21) Naomi’s reflection on person-centred work and the surprise of what the research revealed(24:20) The most striking surprise: all three participants spoke in some form when given enough space and listening(27:09) Trauma in everyday care settings, including hospitals, restraint, transitions, and repeated moves(30:07) Why grief is often mistaken for trauma, and why emotional expression is frequently discouraged in care(32:34) Institutional history, deprivation of liberty, and the long shadow of segregation(34:59) How recovery depends on being seen, heard, and understood rather than treated as a behaviour problem(38:28) Bad actors, harmful systems, and why “bad apple” explanations are not enough(42:44) The emotional impact of the research on Beverley, including sustained sadness and changed assumptions(45:35) Unique Connections’ aims and the gradual move from behavioural models toward trauma-informed practice(48:20) How Beverley stays well through relationships, laughter, prayer, presence, and ordinary self-care

Notable quotes

“If we listen long enough, people will speak. Not necessarily with words, but everybody has something to say.”

“We’re cutting out an enormous chunk of ordinary human functioning from the way that we are understanding somebody simply because they have a learning disability.”