Helping teachers and school support staff understand and support children who have experienced trauma

This one-day CPD course provides a framework to think about attachment and trauma, and how this may impact some children in primary school. It provides a brief overview of attachment theory and trauma, and delivers practical strategies to help teachers regulate and support children who are struggling. These strategies are applicable to all children, but are particularly beneficial to classrooms that include children who have been adopted or who are currently looked after.

What does the course cover?

  • Introduction to the course as a whole
  • Introduction to the concept of attachment
  • What children gain from a nurturing relationship/attachment
  • The development of the child’s world view and expectations – ‘internal working model’
  • The impact of attachment on brain development
  • The impact of inadequate early relationships/attachment experiences on children’s emotions and behaviours
  • Understanding of the puzzling and challenging behaviours frequently displayed by these children
  • Further understanding of the impact of early neglect and trauma on the child’s ‘internal working model’ – and how this relates to insecure attachment styles
  • Further understanding of the impact of early trauma and neglect on a child’s brain development – including the ongoing effects of early, repeated stress

  • Understanding PACE and how to implement PACE strategies in the classroom
  • An introduction to empathic reflection and how to ‘do’ empathy
  • Why regulation is so important
  • How to help children regulate

  • An introduction to therapeutic discipline
  • Attachment tools for therapeutic discipline
  • Two good choices
  • Logical consequences
  • How to implement therapeutic discipline (exercises and discussion)
  • How to be flexible and create strategies that work for your class/the children you work with

  • Understanding school staff as attachment figures
  • Promoting a feeling of safety in school
  • Appreciating and understanding the difficulties teachers/school staff experience
  • The importance of looking after yourself

Exercises, activities, video clips and discussions are used throughout the course to enhance the teaching and content.

Training is delivered by a highly qualified clinical psychologist and/or therapist with many years’ experience working with trauma and attachment.

Course details:

Level: Foundation

Days: One day

Session length: 6 hours

Cost: £230 + VAT per person (group discounts available)

Location: Zoom

Dates: Please see our upcoming events

Consultation package: ongoing support for your team

This one-day course can be followed by regular (monthly or bi-monthly) consultations with the staff team, facilitated by a Gateway Psychology clinician, to assist in application of the ideas and principles of the programme. However, this is not costed for within the one-day training fee and would need to be negotiated separately.

REDS Plan

A REDS Plan is a specialist school psychological intervention to help individual children and young people (and the adults around them) manage their emotions in a school setting. Delivered by highly qualified clinical psychologists and psychological therapists, this practical intervention also helps key adults understand and support the child/young person in a therapeutic way.

A REDS Plan can be incorporated into our Supporting Traumatised Children in School course as required. Please contact us to find out more.

What professionals think about our CPD courses

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“Informative and helpful course. Engaging and educational, with practical tips to apply to real life situations.”

“Very informative. Great to learn about things that relate to daily struggles and having strategies to try to support the children.”

“Very very interesting, informative, useful and engaging. Couldn’t have gone any better. Taking a lot from it. Best training I’ve been on. Thank you!!! :)”

“The best CPD training, will definitely recommend.”

“Powerpoint and discussions all directly linked to what we hoped to achieve. Engaging from start to finish. Thank you.”

“Having light bulb moments and being able to think of specific children and now understand how to help more and support them.”

Upcoming CPD courses

Understanding Blocked Care Training for Professionals (June 2025)

26 June @ 09:30 - 16:30

Caring Playfully Training for Residential Care Staff (Cancelled)

14 July @ 09:00 - 16:00

Understanding Dissociation for Professionals (Cancelled)

16 September @ 09:30 - 16:30

FAQs

There are a variety of ways to access our training services. If you wish to book on to a session as an individual, please view our upcoming events. You will find more details on how to apply on the specific event page.

If you want to book a dedicated training course for your team, please get in contact with us for a quote. It would be helpful for us to know if you would prefer us to deliver your training programme face-to-face or virtually, and your expected numbers.

For our live, interactive courses, each participant will need a laptop or tablet device, webcam, microphone and an internet connection. Mobile phones can be used, but they do not offer the best possible experience for the participant.

We typically host our live virtual courses on Zoom.

Please contact our team to discuss your requirements. We will discuss feasibility with you, and provide an outline of costs.

Yes, we offer a range of options to help provide ongoing support to your team.

Please get in touch with us to talk about your consultation requirements, such as frequency, your goals and the type of families your organisation works with (or the difficulties they typically experience). We will work with you to create a bespoke consultation package that works for your needs.

Cost is dependent on the type of course you are accessing, in addition to the length and number of clinicians presenting. Please take a look at the individual course pages for more information.

Bespoke courses may involve a higher cost, as development time will need to be included. We will work with you to find a pricing structure that works for your needs.