Prenatal Alcohol Exposure: Understanding the Impacts and Supporting Children and Families

Prenatal alcohol exposure can have a profound and lasting impact on a child’s development, behaviour, and wellbeing. Many professionals working in education, health, and social care support children affected by prenatal alcohol exposure – but the condition is often under-recognised, under-diagnosed, and can present in ways that overlap with other needs. This one-day training course is designed to enhance professional understanding of prenatal alcohol exposure and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), and to equip attendees with the tools and strategies needed to provide appropriate, compassionate, and effective support.

What does the course cover?

Develop a clear understanding of prenatal alcohol exposure and its effects on brain development

  • Understand how alcohol affects the developing brain during pregnancy
  • Explore the timing and extent of exposure, and the variability in outcomes
  • Identify the nine common neurological and cognitive impacts, such as difficulties with memory, attention, and executive functioning

Explore how it presents in children and young people, and how it may overlap with conditions such as ADHD, autism, trauma, and attachment difficulties

  • Recognise behavioural and developmental patterns that may indicate prenatal alcohol exposure
  • Understand why children may be misdiagnosed or misunderstood within systems
  • Learn how prenatal alcohol exposure can co-exist with or overlap with other difficulties

Learn about the identification and diagnosis of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD)

  • Gain a better understanding of current diagnostic criteria and pathways.
  • Understand the role of medical, psychological, and social assessments
  • Explore the barriers families face in getting a diagnosis and how professionals can support the process

Gain practical, trauma-informed strategies for supporting affected children and their caregivers

  • Understand how prenatal alcohol exposure may affect behaviour, emotional regulation, and learning
  • Learn how to create supportive environments that reduce triggers and promote safety
  • Discover realistic, consistent approaches to support children/young people that work over time
  • Explore ways to involve and support parents/carers, recognising the impact on families

Consider how to promote early identification, effective communication with families, and cross-sector collaboration for improved outcomes

  • Explore how to support families and carers to make sense of prenatal alcohol exposure
  • Understand the value of early support, even without a formal diagnosis
  • Discover ways to improve joined-up working across health, education, and social care

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: Advanced

Days: One

Session length: 6 hours

Cost: £160 + VAT

Group discounts: Please contact us if you would like to book as a group

Location: This course is delivered virtually (Zoom)

Dates: Please view our upcoming events for the next available course or contact us if you would like to book the training for your team

Consultation package: ongoing support for your team

This one-day course can be followed by regular (monthly or bi-monthly) consultations with a 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.

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

Preverbal Trauma Training for Professionals (Sep 2025)

16 September

Trauma Informed Classrooms (Sept 2025)

24 September @ 09:30 - 16:00

Understanding Blocked Care Training for Professionals (Oct 2025)

30 October

Prenatal Alcohol Exposure & FASD (Dec 2025)

11 December

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.