What I Provide

I work with children and adolescents experiencing a range of emotional and behavioural difficulties. In relation to children with mental health problems my approach shifts away from symptoms and behaviour to a focus on underlying emotional distress in order to find meaning in what the child is experiencing.

If you decide to get in touch, I would offer an appointment in order to discuss your concerns. My approach is about developing an understanding of you and your child’s unique needs. We would agree on an initial assessment to build a picture of your child’s difficulties and to understand the possible underlying contributing factors as well as your hopes as a parent. My aim is without judgement to support family members to talk about and explore difficult feelings and experiences in a safe and contained way.

It is not uncommon for parents to feel overwhelmed when it comes to parenting and particularly in dealing with a child’s challenging behaviour. It is easy to feel that other parents are doing a better job. Sometimes in the midst of stressful experiences parents can lose sight of their strengths and resources. Out of our vulnerability comes our strength. Adults who strengthen their own emotional resilience will be better placed to support their child’s. The capacities that create resilience can be strengthened at any age; it is never too late for an adult to build their own

My aim as a therapist is to support parents to find a non-judgemental space where they can feel understood. Through exploring parenting experiences as well as the child’s difficulties I can offer help with understanding your child’s behaviour, family communication patterns, as well as finding strategies to deal with challenges.

Benefits of Parent Involvement

• Understand your child’s temperament and how your child sees and experiences the world in their own unique way
• Deepen your connection and communication with your child
• Learn how to enhance your connection with your child through play
• Understand how your own childhood experiences may possibly be playing out in your relationship with your child

Christina also works with adults who are experiencing mental and emotional distress related to childhood adversity.

She also has an interest in the impact of trauma on the development of unexplained medical symptoms and chronic illness. Often when there is no medical diagnosis, the underlying driver of symptoms can be bodily expression of the emotional and psychological impact of trauma on the nervous system. As someone who received a diagnosis of an autoimmune disorder many years ago, Christina has been on a journey herself exploring holistic ways of healing which she has found extremely helpful and which have enabled a significant improvement in energy and quality of life.

What I Offer

• Child Trauma and Attachment Assessments
• Developmental Trauma Interventions for Children/Teenagers, Adoptive and Foster Families
• Professional Consultation
• Training for Education Staff, Foster Carers, Adoptive Parents and Professional Practitioners

I utilise a range of approaches depending on the assessed needs of the child.

• Direct Trauma Psychotherapy with children and adolescents
• Arts Psychotherapy
• EMDR Treatment children & adults
• Child-parent/carer dyadic attachment work
• Reflective Therapeutic Parenting

Issues  work with:

• • Prebirth and birth trauma
  • Medical trauma
  • Child-parent attachment/relationship difficulties
  • Anxiety
  • Phobias
  • Behaviour Problems
  • Aggression and violence in children
  • Depression
  • Bereavement
  • Low self-esteem
  • Self-harm
  • Bullying
  • School refusal
  • Childhood physical and emotional abuse
  • Childhood Sexual Abuse
  • Fractured family relationships

From my experience working with children who have endured Developmental Trauma, I have found it necessary to use a comprehensive integrated approach in order to try to address the multiple complexities and developmental concerns which such children present. I draw on a range of Theoretical and practice bases to inform my work; Infant and Early Childhood Development, Sensory Development, Trauma and Neurosequential Brain Development, Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic, the value of creativity and play to promote healing, Theraplay, Parenting with PACE and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Somatic work and Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing (EMDR). This developmentally focused approach, integrated with trauma psychotherapy and sensory regulation work I call Integrative Developmental Psychotherapy. My approach involves enlisting all adults around the child in understanding their needs and how best to support them.

My approach involves conducting an initial assessment gathering a developmental history of the child, as well as consultation with the child’s parents or foster carers in order to ascertain how the child is functioning, behaving and coping with the challenges of life. I then see the child on their own depending on their age, using a number of different assessment methods.  This gives insight to the impact of the trauma the  child has experienced, the child’s mental representations of care seeking and expectations of receiving care and safety, which acts as an important guide for the work. If there is a need, I will assess the child’s levels of dissociation.

I also use the Marshak Interaction Method (MIM) assessment of parent/carer- child relating, which helps to understand the dynamics of their relationships.

I also consult with the child’s education setting to determine how the child is coping with the challenges of their learning and social environment and if needed I offer the school guidance on how best to support the child. I am able to offer strategies for both emotional support and basic sensory regulation.

EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing) Therapy

EMDR is quite different from other forms of counselling and psychotherapy. The client does not need to talk about the trauma they have experiences as for some people this may lead to higher levels of distress. Initially in EMDR treatment the therapist helps the person to become better resourced in their nervous system and emotionally in order to feel ready to identify and face troubling traumatic memories. When the person is ready to process the memory they are guided by the therapist to hold them briefly in consciousness and process them using what is known as EMDR- bilateral stimulation of the brain which can be done through specific eye movements, playing tones in the ear or tapping alternatively on each side of the body. EMDR with children is often quite different; still using the bilateral stimulation but in a more playful and creative way using stories and games.

How Does EMDR Work?

It is not fully understood how EMDR works but there is a lot of science supporting the evidence for the effectiveness of EMDR for trauma, both single event and developmental or complex trauma. The most dominant theory is that it mimics rapid eye movement (REM) sleep which enables us to process memories from the day while we sleep.

Pre-birth and early trauma can have a significant impact on a child’s development enduring into adulthood. Contrary to common belief, we do remember everything that happened to us right from our start in life, but not consciously. We don’t have conscious access to memories relating to experiences before the age of about three years as they are stored implicitly and therefore not directly accessible as concrete memories. Moreover, we can push away traumatic experiences from memory as they are too distressing. Despite memories not being conscious they still  affect our nervous systems, psychology and emotions. Even as adults difficult experiences stemming from childhood can impact what we believe, think and feel about ourselves creating distortion in our sense of ourselves. EMDR is a way of accessing these memories in order to process them to relieve psychological difficulties and emotional distress.

Our brains store normal and traumatic memories differently. Generally when we have an experience our minds processes what has happened in a healthy and constructive way while integrating it in our memory systems across our brain. However experiences that are particularly stressful and frightening can overwhelm the brain’s mental processing and the integration or connecting up does not happen correctly. Trauma memories that are inadequately processed or digested are stored in the brain and body causing emotional distress and other symptoms. This can  leave the brain, mind and body believing that the danger is still present triggering reactions that are about us protecting ourselves. In addition the beliefs people have taken on or how they made meaning of traumatic experiences affects what they think and believe about themselves. This is often the root of negative self-beliefs or the assumption of responsibility for things that were not their fault.

The triggering of unprocessed trauma memories can leave people feeling it is happening all over again and they are reliving it. This is when we may engage in behaviours or reactions that are not in our best interest. A useful metaphor to explain EMDR is how a piece of glass or splinter may be stuck in a wound, representing the traumatic stored memory. Until the glass is removed the wound cannot heal and therefore pain and irritation will be experienced from the area (symptoms of anxiety and distress). EMDR removes the glass i.e. it enables processing of the traumatic memory so that the mind can heal. It is not about forgetting  what happened. EMDR reduces the emotional charge linked to the memories so that the memories become less upsetting. Therefore, reprocessing helps to ‘heal’ the mental injury that comes from stuck traumatic memories as well as helping people to change the distorted negative beliefs and thoughts they may carry about themselves and the world as a result of the trauma. From here we can begin to live in the world with a greater sense of inner peace and self-acceptance.

As a qualified clinical supervisor, I have experience of providing clinical supervision and reflective practice individually and in groups to psychologists, psychotherapists, counsellors, social workers, social care workers and teachers. I offer case consultation for complex work and with dissociative clients. 

I also offer both pre-designed and bespoke training courses on child and family trauma and attachment as well as a range of other topics relevant to foster carers, adoptive parents, social workers and other social care practitioners. 

Kind Feedback from Previous Training I have Delivered

Irish Foster Carer Association 2021-2023

Oxfordshire Children’s Services, UK May 2016

“I appreciated the tutors teaching style – very inclusive and relaxed. Excellent training – delivered skilfully. Highly experienced professional who delivered theoretical information in an easily to digest manner. The session was balanced well and not too heavy. A pleasure to attend – thank you”

Wokingham Children’s Safeguarding Board UK- 2014

“Christina Enright is a skilled, experienced facilitator of this subject area and all delegates (ranging in professional roles from a Healthcare Assistant to a Consultant Psychiatrist) gained knowledge and were fully engaged in the training. Christina handled a Child Protection issue sensitively yet with appropriate authority. An excellent trainer

Premier Partnerships Training UK 2014

“Christina Enright has been awarded a Quality Assurance Score of ‘Outstanding”.

 “The observers thought that Christina had a strong knowledge of the subject, combined with a vast amount of experience which she was able to share to prompt discussions with the delegates and give detailed information. The observers also thought that Christina demonstrated very good communication skills and interacted well with the group as delegates were very engaged”

“Christina Enright is a skilled, experienced facilitator of this subject area and all delegates gained knowledge and were fully engaged in the training”.

“Extremely knowledgeable and able to answer all questions to a high standard of detail”

 Cyfannol  Women’s Aid, Wales 2021

From an online training, I was wary of how it would be translated, but it exceeded expectation. The trainer was great and interesting.

St Luke’s Hospice, UK 2014

“The trainer was able to impart what I felt were some quite complex ideas in a way that meant it was easy to understand and she made me feel comfortable to ask any questions that I might have had”.

“Overall, one of the best training courses I have ever attended anywhere so, thank you”.

“Absolutely fantastic day.  Christina was so knowledgeable and helpful.  Everything was totally relevant”

“I really enjoyed the day.  I thought the tutor was very relaxed and informative.  Answered all questions.”

“I really thought the tutor was good at communicating and answered all questions presented and wasn’t afraid to deter from the agenda.”

“Fantastic facilitator.  Would highly recommend more training from her.  The training experience and delivery was second to none.

It was an excellent day and would love to attend anymore.”

The Following sets out training courses I have delivered to a range of organisations over the past years 

Assessing Parenting Capacity in Social Care 

• Understand the neuroscience of the parenting brain and how it is affected by trauma and ongoing stress
• Understand the concept of reflective function/mentalisation and how it relates to parenting capacity
• Useful questions to explore parenting experiences
• Using the Theraplay framework nurture, structure, engagement and challenge to explore the full range of parenting
• Using play and creative arts to explore the quality of connection in relationship between parent/carer and child

Assessment of Traumatised Children for Social Care Workers

• Child observation- what is typical child behaviour and how to make sense of what you see
• What are indicators of health/resilience?
• What are the red flags of concern?
• How to use creative media to access a child’s thinking and emotions

Evaluating and Making Decisions about Birth Family Access

• • What the research evidence tells us about access with birth families and why it is important for children in foster care
  • How developmental trauma impacts a child’s experience of access with birth parents, siblings and extended family members
  • How to support foster children to maximise the benefits they get from access with their birth family
  • What to look out for and how to monitor the impact of access on foster children
  • Access with siblings, challenges that may arise and how to minimise or address them
  • When access is contraindicated
  • How to support children with the conflicting emotions that naturally arise in the face of access with birth families
  • How to support children and Foster Carers when access does not go as smoothly as hoped

Lunch-time Bite Sized 1 hr Courses for Social Care Staff

The Impact of Developmental Trauma on Children

In order to support children in care, it is important to understand the impact of developmental trauma on:

• How Trauma Impacts on how a child thinks
• How Trauma Impacts how a child feels
• How Trauma Impacts a child’s functioning and behaviour

How Do Children Recover from Developmental Trauma

In order to support children in care, it is important to understand the core conditions for a child’s recovery. This training helps participants explore:

• Core qualities in parents/foster carers needed for recovery
• Core conditions in the child’s environment
• What happens if a child is self-protecting/resisting attachment?
• What therapeutic approaches help and what for which children?

Factors for Decision Making Regarding Sibling Placements

• What the research says about placing siblings together or apart
• Factors for consideration when making decisions

 Self-harming and Suicidal Ideation in Traumatised Children and Adolescents

• What are the factors that influence suicidal ideation and self-harm in traumatised children
• How to respond to children/adolescents who are presenting with suicidal ideation/self-harm

Placement Endings

• About the neurobiology and psychology of separation, grief and loss
• Impact of placement endings, both planned and unplanned on Foster Carers
• How to support foster carers whether a placement has ended abruptly or planned

The Impact for Practitioners of Working in a Trauma Saturated Environment

• Exposure to trauma- the impact on our Nervous Systems and Psychology
• Strategies for supporting ourselves when exposed to trauma and working in stressful professions.

Trauma Focused Reflective Practice Surgery

This is designed as an open and confidential forum where practitioners can come together with practice questions or dilemmas and where they can be supported to reflect with colleagues and Christina.

Session One: Attachment and Trauma Overview

As a result of completing this training Foster Carers/Adoptive Parents can learn about:

• ‘The Window of Tolerance’- how early protection, safety and care shapes the wiring up of a baby and child’s nervous system influencing the regulation of both physiological (body) and emotional arousal
• What is primary maternal/paternal preoccupation and why is it important?
• What the circle of security is and why it is important for a young child’s healthy development
• How Developmental Trauma creates fear and defensiveness in a child/adolescent’s nervous system and influences their behaviour
• How early Developmental Trauma through a lack of protection, safety and care, influence the cognitive, emotional, and social development of a child
• How Developmental Trauma influences the perception of a child, creating distortions in relation to themselves as well as the adults and the world around them   
• In the event of Developmental Trauma, why there is a gap between a child’s chronological age and their social/emotional age
• child-parent attachment and how it interacts with Trauma
• different attachment strategies and how they develop
• How attachment strategies affect a child’s behaviour particularly around seeking protection and care

Session Two: The Importance of Emotional Attunement to Build Connected Relationship

As a result of completing this training Foster Carers can learn about: 

• The importance of responding to the child’s developmental age rather than chronological age
• What emotional attunement is and why is it important for traumatised children
• What is contingent responding and how does it relate to helping a child to feel accepted and understood?
• Why it may be challenging to building an emotional connection with a child who has experienced hurt and betrayal
• The importance of therapeutic parenting and being mind-minded in responding to and building trust with children who have been hurt, let down and even abused, particularly in relation to challenging behavour
• Introduction to Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) Principles

Session Three:  How to Care for Children with a Defective Signalling System and help them to Build Trust and Accept Care

As a result of completing this training Foster Carers can learn about:

• Understanding the child’s internal model of relationships and how this will likely differ from the Foster Carers and other typically developing children
• what is blocked trust/epistemic mistrust is and how it develops
• About miscuing and hiding- how children learn to hide needs or overly amplify needs as learned dysfunctional ways of signalling a need for care and attempts to survive and get needs met
• What are indicators of miscuing and hiding
• How toxic shame impacts on a child’s sense of self and behaviour
• How to respond to help a child who has learned to protect themselves through hiding and miscuing, to express their needs in healthier ways
• Rupture and repair and how it can help build a child’s resilience

Session Four: All Behaviour is Communication – Supporting Children to Learn to Regulate their Own Bodies, Emotions and Behaviour.

As a result of completing this training Foster Carers can learn about:

• How traditional behaviour management approaches for children who have experienced Developmental Trauma are inadequate, often ineffective and may even be harmful
• Setting and holding boundaries with calm and kindness with children who resist
• Different parenting styles in response to children’s emotions and behaviour
• Nervous system arousal- the window of tolerance- bringing children back into balance using Dan Hughe’s Parenting with PACE
• The impact of shame on a child’s capacity to learn from experience
• The importance of connection before correction to build and maintain trust and to help children to learn from correction
• Responses to challenging behaviour that enable a child to learn to self-reflect/mentalize rather than becoming or responding defensively
• Sensory regulation strategies to help children to be in an engaged, alert and calm state

Session Five: Understanding Our Own Attachment History

As a result of completing this training Foster Carers can learn about:

• How thinking about and holding in mind our strengths and resources is imperative for our emotional and psychological resilience
• How our brain, minds and bodies influence our triggers of emotion and  behaviour and subsequent responses to the child
• The importance of understanding our past relationships and attachment history and how they may influence our experience of caring for traumatised children- how our own attachment experiences may be triggered by the child’s
• The importance of having a coherent narrative of our own experiences of trauma and loss- building a genogram to reflection on own family of origin

Session Six: Blocked Care and Self-Care

As a result of completing this training Foster Carers can learn about: 

• How our strengths and vulnerabilities impact on us as parents
• How our thoughts and beliefs influence our feelings and behaviour and can make us feel like we are failing as parents/carers
• How the development of our parenting brain influences our responses to stress as well as tendency towards psychological safety or defensiveness
• What is blocked care and how does it affect our parenting capacity
• How is secondary trauma related to blocked care 
• Exploring and understanding our own stress patterns and sensory regulation in the face of everyday challenges
• Moving from defensive to open and engaged in relationships to help engender trust in a traumatised child
• The importance of self-care to maintain resilience/beginning our own self-care plans
• Energy medicine- self-calming strategies that help regulation

Learning Outcomes

As a result of completing this training participants can learn about:

• The research on the development of morality in children and adolescents
• The link between child-parent attachment and the development of morality in children
• Exploring our own cognitive and emotional responses to lying and stealing in children
• What may influence lying and stealing behaviour in children
• The role of shame in a child’s response to being called out or corrected
• How carers and professionals can respond to a child who presents with lying and/or stealing behaviour to help the child to feel safe enough to begin to reflecton their behaviour and to learn how to understand and cope with the challenging situations which may trigger these behaviours

Learning Outcomes

As a result of completing this training participants can learn about:

• how neglect and trauma can impact on a child’s eating behaviour
• what food insecurity is and how it presents
• why vulnerable children may present with behaviours such as hiding, hoarding, and stealing food understanding problems with overeating
• about avoidant/restrictive food Intake Disorder (ARFID)-how not all food refusal is related to body image and fear of gaining weight
• how to support children who overeat, have food insecurity or are over fussy or reluctant eaters

Learning Objectives

As a result of completing this training participants can learn about:

• Why sleep is important for our physical, mental health and overall wellbeing
• The link between the brain, body and nervous system and sleep
• How trauma and or anxiety affects sleep patterns
• Exploring different sleep issues that may arise with vulnerable children
• Strategies to support children who have disrupted/dysregulated sleep

Learning Outcomes

As a result of completing this training participants can learn about:

• How tuned in and positive social engagement and play builds minds and bodies of babies and children and supports recovery from early adversity
• What research tells us about how play is a crucial way for children to learn about the world and to develop positive relationships with carers
• Lots of ideas of how adults can use play and creativity with children to support stronger relationship skills, self-confidence and resilience
• How playfulness with adolescents can also support the development of deeper emotional connection
• Understanding how sensory processing difficulties are common in children what have experienced adversity and some ideas incorporating play that can support a child who experiences sensory regulation difficulties

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this training participants can learn about:

• the meaning of different diagnostic categories
• the impact of trauma on mental health
• how might we determin whether a child’s symptoms are due to developmental trauma or an organic mental health disorder?
• the comparison between the medical model and the social model of mental health problems
• the stigma of mental illness diagnosis-how can mental health diagnoses be helpful?
• how our thinking about and attitudes to mental illness can impact on a child’s perception of themselves and their recovery
• the growing research on the link between nutrition and stable mental heath
• the link between physiological and emotional regulation problems and mental health problems ways to support a child or adolescent who have symptoms of mental health problems, whether allocated a specific diagnosis or not.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this training participants can learn about:

• a child’s inner world- what children need to communicate about
• how a child’s ability to communicate their thoughts, feelings, needs, desires etc may be impaired
• how to listen so that children and adolescents talk and talk so that children and adolescents listen
• how to support children who are withdrawn, shutdown or who struggle to perceive and express themselves to communicate their thoughts, feelings, desires, motivations
• Using the arts to support children to formulate and express their thoughts, feelings, desires, motivations

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this training participants can learn about:

• the concepts of vulnerability, self-esteem, self-efficacy, and resilience, and how these apply to the everyday experiences of the children and young people we support
• how our own beliefs about the child and the world can impede their development of self-esteem, self-efficacy and resilience.
• the research and knowledge base on resilience and vulnerability and the factors which impede a child’s resilience and create vulnerabilities, as well as those that build resilience and coping
• about expectation-failure and how to help a child who has been conditioned in this way
• how to recognise, highlight and reflect back the strengths in a traumatised child who struggles with praise to shift their negative cognitions/self-beliefs
• how resilience can build anytime through life with effective support in relationship with other people
• specific approaches and strategies for the promotion of resilience and coping in vulnerable children and adolescents.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this training participants can learn about:

• what constitutes self-harm in children/adolescents?
• what is known from research about the underlying causes of suicidal ideation and self-harm including the underlying neurobiological mechanisms
• The concept of risk management and the importance of carers and professionals having support for themselves
• How to talk to a child or young person about suicidal ideation, self-harm and their complex feelings
• How to best support a child or adolescent who is at risk of suicide or self-harming- helping to develop more healthy coping and resilience
• The importance of self-care for anyone caring for highly distressed and at-risk children.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of completing this training participants can learn about:

• A brief overview of the impact of Developmental Trauma on brain development, information processing, perception and defensive behaviour
• Brain reorganisation during adolescence- issues of identity development, risk taking, power and autonomy
• Trauma and issues of power and control
• The importance of how power is managed by parents/carers through a child’s ongoing development, particularly during adolescence
• Ways of responding in the face of adolescents who are presenting with avoidant, resistant, angry or coercive behaviour that will enable the adult and the adolescent to feel empowered, and which will more likely gain the adolescent’s cooperation.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of completing this training participants can learn about:

• What the research into the impact of exposure to domestic violence says about its impact on a child or adolescent’s cognitive, psychological, emotional development
• The trauma of witnessing a parent being abused
• How abuse and coercive control can also be the child’s experience of the abusing parent and how it negatively affects the child’s development
• How children and adolescents can carry self-blame for not protecting the victim parent
• How exposure to domestic violence may affects a child/adolescents’ behaviour
• How to have conversations with children about why they are in care as a result of exposure to domestic abuse
• How carers and professionals can support children psychologically and emotionally who have been exposed to domestic violence

Learning Outcomes

As a result of completing this training participants can learn about:

• How although not all children develop at the same pace, there are reliable indicators about what is typical and what would be a cause for concern regarding a child’s development
• Milestones of infant development as foundational for all later development, right through to adulthood- conditions for healthy brain and body connection and organisation
• The research on the impact of neglect and trauma during infancy and early childhood on a child’s healthy development
• The circle of Security and the importance of attunement or tuning in and co-regulation for the development of secure attachment
• Social referencing and the development of epistemic trust as important facilitators of how babies and toddlers need to learn to use parents/carers as a source of information to learn about safety and the world generally
• Toddlerhood- the function of resisting and saying ‘NO’ and the socialisation of shame
• Milestones of early and middle childhood

Adolescence as a unique stage of development- brain reorganisation and psychosocial and psychosexual development

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this course participants can learn:

• why traditional behaviour management strategies are not adequate or effective and may even be harmful for traumatised children
• the concept of ‘Behaviour as a Communication
• how blocked trust and a lack of unconditional love affects a traumatised child’s functioning and behaviour
• about emotional dysregulation, the “window of emotional tolerance” and behavioural manifestations of emotional triggers.
• shame versus guilt and how shame can impede reflecting on accepting the consequences of behaviour
• about the importance of rupture and repair in supporting the development of resilience in traumatised children.
• how to intervene effectively with co-regulation to prevent escalation and to calm a distressed child or adolescent. Practical strategies of emotional communication to connect with the child in responding to challenging behaviour in a way that will empower the foster carer and effectively deescalate the high emotional arousal of children who struggle to self-regulate their emotions and behaviour
• the value of natural and relational consequence rather than punishment to support a child’s learning from the negative aspects of their behaviour

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this training participants can learn about:

• the themes of grief, loss and bereavement and mourning
• different theories of grief and mourning
• what research into a child or adolescent’s experience of separation, grief and loss tells us about the impact it has on them emotionally and psychologically
• how children of different ages and stages respond to bereavement/loss
• the different ways children can express their distress confusion and grief through their behaviour when separated from someone close to them
• about ambiguous and traumatic grief, a common experience for children who have experienced trauma, abuse and neglect in their family of origin
• creative strategies that support mourning
• How we can support children to grieve in ways that enables them to process the loss and support their emotional wellbeing

Learning Outcomes

As a result of completing this training participants can learn about:

• the impact of relational trauma on the development of human relationships
  research on the stages of the development of friendships for children;
• understanding how sibling/peer conflict is a natural part of how children and adolescents develop the skills to manage relational dynamics
• what is meant by sibling on sibling or peer on peer bullying/abuse and what are the different forms this can take?
• factors that may make some children and young people especially vulnerable to being abused or acting out abuse
• how to recognise signs that this may be happening with a child or young person
  what you can do if a child/young person reports sibling or peer abuse- how to help the affected child and the child who is enacting the abuse
• the importance of reflecting on dynamics within the child’s family
• approaches for supporting children to develop the skills to engage in more healthy interactions and harmonious relationships with siblings and peers

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending participants can learn about:

• The concepts of compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress and burnout
• How our own internal critic can lead us to believe that we are failing/not good enough
• what blocked care is and what causes it
• how blocked care can happen in the parent-child/adolescent relationship or in our relationships with children and teenagers as professionals, and how it manifests.
• the complexity of human relationships and how unconscious dynamics can play out in the child-parent or parent-professional relationship when trauma is in the background
• how to recognize signs of compassion fatigue and secondary trauma.
• how the risks of blocked care can be prevented and the importance of support and self-care for carers and professionals if it begins to develop.
• important and effective strategies for self-care

Learning Outcomes

This training will offer participants with an opportunity to learn about the following:

• A short overview on healthy infant and toddler development.
• Why is it easy to assume that babies and toddlers don’t get traumatised and that they are okay because it is easy to miss the signs?
• How trauma affects babies and toddlers
• The signs and symptoms of trauma in babies and toddlers
• The importance of intervening early when there has been severe abuse and neglect.
• Therapeutic parenting approaches to support traumatised babies and toddlers to recover from trauma.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of participating in these open forum sessions: 

• participants can present their own specific learning needs and have a space to have these met through reflection and exploration
• carers and practitioners have an opportunity to share their struggles in their role safely within the group
• gain knowledge and insight as well as get support and encouragement from other carers/practitioners in the group
• through reflection gain greater insight and empathy for the child or adolescent which will help to build stronger relationships and enhance the child’s sense of trust and felt safety and security.
• experience the value of a reflective space as a means to explore issues and to draw on their own capacities and resources to solve problems arising within their role

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this training participants can learn about:

• the importance of Therapeutic Reparenting to support children with insecurity/disruption of attachment to develop enhanced security
• how to respond to different defensive attachment patterns such as avoidant, ambivalent and disorganised
• responding to hiding and miscuing to help children to feel safe enough in time to express their needs and vulnerability more openly and to find healthier ways of
• seeking care and getting their needs met
• emotional attunement and its importance for responding uniquely to each child’s temperament and attachment survival strategy in supporting the child’s development of security
• supporting adolescent attachment in the face of their unique developmental need for separation and individuationn
• the importance of rupture and repair for building resilience in traumatised children
• how to helpfully respond when a child transfers hurt feelings onto the adults around them

As a result of attending this training participants can learn:

• what child-parent attachment is, why it is important and how secure attachment s develop in child-parent relationships from infancy
• how attachment behaviour is shaped in a healthy or maladaptive way by the caregiver’s responses to expression of attachment needs in babies, children and adolescents
• how to identify healthy attachment seeking behaviours in children as well as behaviours that indicate insecurity of attachment
• different attachment strategies that can develop and indicators of these in children
• what blocked trust is and how this creates stress in parent/carer when the child struggles with this
• to understand how children use self-protective behaviours such as hiding and miscuing when they don’t feel safe and secure with adults
• understanding how children have experienced attachment disruption can transfer the feelings about this onto the adults around them attempting to care for them
• the link between attachment difficulties and dissociation
• understanding how attachment changes in adolescence

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this training participants can learn about:

• the neurosequential model of brain development and the mechanisms through which healthy brain development is fostered through positive and responsive relationships.
• how early childhood neglect, abuse and trauma can have an impact on the physiology of brain and body development as well as how memories are stored
• how early trauma can impact on a child’s cognitive, social and emotional functioning, as well as how to make sense of presenting behaviours that can be odd or puzzling.
• about the development and maintenance of survival behaviours for traumatised children
• the concept of the “Window of Tolerance” helps us to understand emotional triggers and emotional regulation and dysregulation and how to calm a distressed child
• how blocked trust impacts how a traumatised child develops new attachments
• the importance of self-care for carers and professionals supporting traumatised childen

Session Two: Learning Outcomes 

 As a result of attending this training you can learn about:

• the imperative of safe and emotionally reparative relationships and experiences for supporting a child’s recovery from Developmental Trauma
• how trauma distorts a child’s perception of the world and how the child’s behaviour is often related to this
• the importance of responding to the child’s developmental level rather than their chronological age for getting back on track with their development and recovery
• How to create a sense of safety in the child’s nervous system to maxmise the potential
• the importance of co-regulation and the use of emotional styles of responding which will help calm distressed children and enable them to get back on track with emotional development and maturation.
• about the concept of behaviour as a communication and how to read what is the need expressed by a child/adolescent’s presenting with complex behaviour
• Responding to behaviour -rupture and repair, natural and relational consequences, helping children feel safe enough to learn from experience

Anger is a normal human emotion and has an adaptive function of helping us to set personal boundaries keeping us safe from harm and for survival. However, anger may become an emotion which is expressed in unhelpful, unhealthy and even destructive ways that may sabotage a child’s, teenager’s or adult’s development and wellbeing and create ruptures or disconnects in relationships. This training is designed to help foster carers to consider this complex emotion and the place of anger in both their own lives and the lives of their children as well as thinking about how to approach anger issues with a sense of understanding, acceptance, curiosity, compassion and empowerment.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this training participants can learn:

• About anger as an emotion and how it is generated in the brain and nervous system
• How temperamental differences may play a part in emotional reactivity and how it is affected by environmental experience
• How sensory regulation difficulties can look like anger
• Understanding valid anger in children who have experienced betrayal and abandonment
• Our own relationship with anger; how we can be triggered and different ways our nervous systems may respond- anger is not always communicated through externalised behaviour but can be part of the shut down/shut off way of coping with the fear of being angry or expressing anger, which can be disempowering.
• How to respond to a child or teenager who presents with frequent anger expression which may be getting in the way of the child’s progress and connection in your relationship.

Adolescence is probably one of the most challenging developmental stages for all parents and is particularly difficult for Foster Carers. Experiences of brain and biological changes, as well as psychological maturation in adolescence bring a rage of new challenges in parenting. Previous trauma in the child’s life can compound difficulties in adolescence and the demands on foster carers. This training course focuses on the psychological and emotional challenges during the teenage years, particularly related to identity development.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this training participants can learn about:

• Comfort with closeness- how attachment changes in adolescence
• Self-care and the belief of being worthy of care
• Psychosocial development in adolescence
• How identity is crafted as a result of environmental experience
• Understanding adolescent anxiety and how to support an anxious teen
• The importance of personal power, peer and sibling relationships and how bullying can happen
• Supporting teenagers to move towards healthy independence

Children in care may present with sexualised behaviour and foster carers can experience uncertainty around how to best respond. There may be an assumption that when a child is presenting with sexualised behaviour that this is an indicator of sexual abuse. However, it is clear from research into sexualised behaviour in children that it is complex and can occur for a number of reasons, not least as part of typical development. This training is designed to give foster carers the space to explore this area in order to learn about it and how to support their foster child.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this training participants can learn:

• How to distinguish between typical developmental sexualised behaviour and healthy teenage experimentation, and behaviour which is likely to be harmful to the child and other children
• The link between trauma, attachment, nurture, emotional regulation, and sexualised behaviour
• About when children are likely to need close supervision around sexualised behaviour
• Some guidance for foster carers on how to respond to sexualised behaviour in traumatised children and adolescents

Children who are received into care often present with some degree of neurodiversity due to their temperamental difference, prebirth or early developmental trauma. Although many children will require specialist assessment it is important for foster carers to understand that there are many ways that they can act to support their neurodiverse child. This workshop is designed to give carers a space to explore the concept of neurodiversity and how different children present. It will emphasise that as well as presenting challenges neurodiverse children have great strengths and that there are very practical things foster carers can do to help the child.

Learning Outcomes

As a result of attending this training participants can learn about:

• What neurodiversity is and how it presents
• What is understood to be the underlying causes of neurodiversity in children
• Why it is important to see the whole child and not just their struggles
• The importance of helping a neurodiverse child not to see themselves as less  than due to their difficulties
• Practical approaches to help neurodiverse children and teenagers to maximise their potential

Caring for children who have experienced sexual abuse can be a very challenging experience for foster carers. Foster carers may not know that the child has experienced sexual abuse and so may struggle to make sense of the child’s behaviour. They may be anxious about engaging with the child’s communication around sex and sexuality, not sure what to say or how to respond. In order to support the child’s recovery it is important that foster carers feel equipped and confident about how to respond and support the child around such matters. This course is designed specifically to help foster carers to reflect on and understand this complex and distressing topic and to consider the many ways they can meet the child’s emotional needs and contribute to the promotion of the child’s recovery.

Learning Outcomes:

• The Definition of Child Sexual Abuse (CSA)
• The Impact of Child Sexual Abuse on the development, functioning and behaviour of Children and Adolescents
• CSA disclosure- how do Children disclose sexual abuse?
• What are the Barriers to Disclosing?
• What enables a child to feel safe in Disclosing?
• Are there reliable signs and symptoms that a child has experienced sexual abuse?
• Preventing retraumatisation- how can Foster Carers work with their knowledge about child sexual abuse to make it safe for children to engage with them around their experience.
• The impact on Foster Carers of hearing a child disclose sexual abuse and the importance of support and self-care
• Explaining sexual abuse to children
• Taking to children about body safety
• How foster carers can support children to build resilience in order to recover from childhood sexual abuse.