Whatever our role is working with children and young people, one of the most challenging aspects is supporting distressed and dysregulated behaviour. It eventually leaves us feeling deskilled inadequate and exhausted.

The sense from staff working directly with children and young people is that the context has changed. It feels like our children haven't developed the skills and capabilities required to manage the basic expectations of day to day life. They may struggle to take direction, navigate social situations, cope with disappointment or persevere through difficulties.

Our starting point is different from where it was years ago, if we keep doing what we have always done, we'll get the same outcome. By looking through a different lens, developing an understanding of what lies beneath a child’s behaviour, were a child is functioning developmentally and what they need from us to strengthen regulation, engagement and resilience, we have the best chance possible of bringing about lasting change for everyone.

This training allows participants to develop an insight into child development and behaviour, understand the importance of relationships and make changes in their interactions and responses that reduce the difficult times while developing essential skills and capabilities.

Key Learning:

• Developing an understanding of unmet needs and how they manifest through behaviour.

• Exploring the difference between top down and bottom-up behaviours and knowing how to respond.

• Creating compassionate boundaries.

• Matching our demands and expectations to a child’s developmental stage and skill base.

• Creating robust, safe relationships which withstand the storm.

• Strengthening self-regulation by using both reflective and pro-active frameworks and scripts

• Identifying our personal anchors to support our own emotional wellbeing

An initial consultation is included to ensure that the training content and pace meets the specific needs of your workforce.

Depending on location, this training can be delivered face to face or virtually via Zoom or Teams platform.

The session is interactive and allows participants the opportunity to collaborate, discuss and reflect.

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Duration: 3 hours

Children all have a unique biology, that is why following a one size fits all approach doesn’t work. A child’s behaviour is the signal that they send to communicate what is happening inside their body and brain at any given moment. If we get better at picking up those signals and interpreting what they mean, we can respond in ways that respects the child’s biology, soothes their emotional and stress responses, and equips them with the tools they need to regulate their future reactions.

This session explores the importance of the brain, body connection and how, through attuned relationships and co-regulation, we can begin to support children to develop the skills and capabilities that they require to eventually regulate their own stress responses.

Key Learning:

• Reflecting on the factors that may cause a child to have a sensitive stress response system.

• Understanding the impact of toxic stress on the developing body and brain.

• Exploring heightened stress responses and how to respond.

• Understanding the role of the senses and attuned relationships in creating a healthy brain body connection.

• Using a proactive, collaborative approach to support the development of self-regulation.

• Reflecting on the adult’s response, how to stay regulated and connected during times of distress.

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An initial consultation is included to ensure that the training content and pace meets the needs the specific needs of your workforce.

Depending on location, this training can be delivered face to face or virtually via Zoom or Teams platform.

The session is interactive and allows participants the opportunity to collaborate, discuss and reflect.

Duration: 3 hours

When our children are small, we focus on their developmental milestones, when will they be able to crawl, walk or talk? As they grow, these milestones become more focused around achievements at school and in the community, are they progressing with their reading or maths, will they be selected for the football or gymnastics team?

All these things are important, however there are a set of capabilities, that are less visible and harder to measure, that are crucial in equipping our children with the skills that they require to navigate life and reach their potential.

These principles are:

• Emotional regulation

• Stress regulation.

• Sensory integration

• Attachment

• Self-belief

• Executive functioning

• Flexibility

This session will break down and explore these seven key principles of child development that are frequently overlooked but are essential for a child to thrive in home, early years, and school settings. Using current research from world renowned experts, we will explore the sequence of development for each principle to gain a clear understanding of where the child’s starting point is and what we can do, in practical terms, to support their progress and help them to grow.

Key learning:

• Looking beyond the traditional parameters of child development and milestones.

• Understanding the integrated body and brain, taking a holistic approach.

• Identifying factors that impact on the developing child.

• Exploring the seven invisible principles of child development, what they are and why they are important.

• Identifying the developmental stage of the child and exploring ways to support their progress.

An initial consultation is included to ensure that the training content and pace meets the specific needs of your workforce.

Depending on location, this training can be delivered face to face or virtually via Zoom or Teams platform.

The session is interactive and allows participants the opportunity to collaborate, discuss and reflect.

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Duration: 3 hours

Children are born wired to connect. Their experiences prebirth and during the first few years of their life cannot be explicitly remembered but have a profound effect on their physical, emotional, and cognitive development, as well as shaping their future health and wellbeing.

By understanding the impact of prolonged toxic stress on the developing brain and body and the importance of safe, attuned relationships, we can create environments and experiences that change a child’s biology and unlock their potential.

This session explores the importance of connection and felt safety as vital components of childhood development. It provides practitioners with the knowledge of how to use relationships and their own regulation system to settle a child’s internal fear and chaos bringing them to a safe place where they can connect and heal.

Key learning:

• Exploring how a child’s experience of early relationships shape their view of the world.

• Reflecting on traditional behaviour management approaches and how they may induce further trauma

• Balancing structure and nurture, the importance of setting compassionate boundaries.

• Recognising a child’s internal state and knowing how to respond.

• Predicting and navigating potential stressors together, creating successful outcomes.

• Knowing our own limits, finding time to rest and reset.

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An initial consultation is included to ensure that the training content and pace meets the specific needs of your workforce.

Depending on location, this training can be delivered face to face or virtually via Zoom or Teams platform.

The session is interactive and allows participants the opportunity to collaborate, discuss and reflect.

Duration: 3 hours

This training programme develops participants understanding of anxiety and distress within children. It explores the importance of the brain, body connection and how through attuned relationships and co-regulation we can begin to support children to navigate the difficult times while maintaining a sense of safety and connection.

Participants will also explore the importance of adult regulation during times of stress and how we can use our internal state and self-talk to soothe a distressed child.

The training translates recent research in child development into practical approaches that can be adapted to meet the needs of all children.

Key learning:

• Exploring how a child’s body reacts to perceived threats and stressors.

• Translating behavioural cues into unmet needs and emotional states.

• Understanding the importance of co-regulation in soothing stress responses.

• Developing a clear framework for working collaboratively with the child.

• Importance of the adult response and remaining anchored.

An initial consultation is included to ensure that the training content and pace meets the specific needs of your workforce.

Depending on location, this training can be delivered face to face or virtually via Zoom or Teams platform.

The session is interactive and allows participants the opportunity to collaborate, discuss and reflect.

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Duration: 6 hours in total, split into 2 sessions

How we view and respond to a child's behaviour has changed over time. Traditional approaches, that are still being used today are reactive, shame inducing and have many limitations. If we really want to minimise the reoccurrence of distressed behaviour and bring about long-term change for our children and young people, we need to understand what is going on in their bodies and brains. We also need to be aware of the impact of environmental factors surrounding the child and how we can stay connected when relationships are being pushed to the limit.

This programme translates recent findings in neuroscience into practical approaches that help adults make sense of behaviour and respond in a considered way. It explores how we can be proactive making small changes to daily routines and interactions that will equip children with the skills they need to meet the demands of everyday life.

Key learning:

• Exploring our thoughts and beliefs about behaviour.

• Identifying patterns of behaviour and how they meet a child's needs.

• Understanding the interconnected brain moving from co-regulation to self-regulation

• Interpreting behaviours what this tells us about a child's internal state.

• Using internal state and developmental stage of a child to inform our responses.

An initial consultation is included to ensure that the training content and pace meets the specific needs of your workforce.

Depending on location, this training can be delivered face to face or virtually via Zoom or Teams platform.

The session is interactive and allows participants the opportunity to collaborate, discuss and reflect.

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Duration: 3 hours

Adolescence can feel like a time of conflict and disconnection, but in actual fact it is a perfect opportunity for learning and creativity, if you know how to tune into the adolescent brain!

The brain goes through a period of significant change during the adolescent years as it begins to specialise in preparation for the adult world. This gives us a window of opportunity to provide experiences that will strengthen executive functions, the mental processes that are essential for independence, relationships, education and employment.

Key learning:

• Understanding executive functions and why they are important

• Exploring the factors that impact on executive functioning

• Identifying the changes that happen to the brain during adolescence

• Understanding the sequence of social engagement

• Accessing the 'upstairs brain' in order to strengthen regulation and resilience

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An initial consultation is included to ensure that the training content and pace meets the specific needs of your workforce.

Depending on location, this training can be delivered face to face or virtually via Zoom or Teams platform.

The session is interactive and allows participants the opportunity to collaborate, discuss and reflect.

Duration: 3 hours

There is a core group of capabilities, that create a strong foundation for all future learning and development.  These capabilities are our children’s executive functions.  Unfortunately for children who are neurodivergent, the development of some, or all these executive functions, may be inhibited.  This can make navigating life at home and at school quite challenging and stressful.  

Executive functioning helps our children initiate, plan, organise, develop working memory and attention, be self-aware, flexible and regulate their thoughts and emotions.  Children develop these capabilities at different rates which are also impacted by their neurobiology and their lived experiences. 

By purposefully creating environments, experiences, and interactions that nurture and strengthen children’s executive functions, we can equip them with the tools of the mind that will serve them for a lifetime.

Key learning:

This session is divided into two parts:

Part 1:   Developing our understanding

·         Understanding the main executive functioning capabilities

·         Exploring factors that may impact on the development of these capabilities

·         Strengthening capabilities - what we can do to help

Part 2:  Developing children’s understanding

·         Exploring the brain body loop, how to move to the thinking parts of our brain and stay there

·         Discovering ways of strengthening our upstairs brain

An initial consultation with the organiser is included to ensure that the training content meets the needs of the group.

Depending on location, this training can be delivered face to face or virtually via Zoom or Teams platform.  The session is interactive and allows participants the opportunity to collaborate, discuss and reflect.

Duration: 6 hours, split into 2 sessions

Training is a powerful tool of change but when the level of need is high and practitioners are continuously creating atuned environments and interactions to support the development of regulation it can begin to take its toll on their own emotional wellbeing.

We provide one to one or group coaching sessions, providing continued support to your workforce where it is needed most. These sessions allow participants the opportunity for self-reflection, problem solving and collaboration in a safe, empathic and supportive space.

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Individual coaching: 1 hour | Cost £100

Group coaching, up to 4 participants: 1.5 hours | Cost £150

Supporting a neurodivergent child calls for adults to be attuned, proactive, and flexible. When developmental trauma from adverse childhood experiences is also in play, the need for a highly skilled, needs-led and trauma-informed approach becomes even more essential.

This course is designed for professionals, offering a deeper understanding of the many ways neurodivergent children may experience the world, and how those experiences can, in themselves, be trauma-inducing even without the added layer of adversity.

Participants will strengthen their knowledge of neurodivergence through a trauma-informed lens and develop proactive, practical responses that reduce stressors, meet the child at their developmental stage and create a sense of felt safety.

In this course we will explore:

• What is neurodivergence?

• Developmental trauma and the neurodivergent brain – another layer of stress.

• Creating sensory sensitive environments.

• Developing safe relationships - meeting the child where they are at.

• Stage not age – understanding the role of executive functions.

• The self-regulation framework – collaborative problem solving to minimise distress.

• Using visual supports.

An initial consultation is included to ensure that the training content and pace meets the specific needs of your workforce.

Depending on location, this training can be delivered face to face or virtually via Zoom or Teams platform.

The session is interactive and allows participants the opportunity to collaborate, discuss and reflect.

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Duration: 4 hours