In Morecambe Bay, which straddles North Lancashire and South Cumbria, we are passionate about developing trauma-informed practice. Our ‘Little Book of ACEs’ has been adopted by the WHO and is now available in other languages, and we are in the process of writing the next instalment, ‘The Not So Little Book of ACEs’. Here, we discuss in the round why trauma has such an impact on our lives, what we can do to prevent it, how we can help those who are going through it and how we can heal the wounds that we carry as a result of trauma we have suffered. As we gain more understanding, we can become more compassionate and create together a society that is more woke to the reality of what is, perhaps, our biggest public health crisis.