Newsletter: February 2024

Thankyou!

We are delighted you have signed up for our newsletter. We are positively overwhelmed with the responses and new connections we are making. We hope as a community will continue to grow together.

This months top news

WHAT’S NEW? 

Payment plans are now available for our courses, please email [email protected] for guidance on how to arrange a payment plan.

We are offering a range of online and face to face CPD’s and training. If you have any questions about our courses please contact us at [email protected] 

Coming soon...

CPD (part one): Providing Therapy and Care for Children and Youth with problems due to Relational (Developmental) Trauma.

Dan Hughes developed Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy. Scroll down for a Fostercarers experience of caring for traumatised children and why you cannot miss this CPD.

When: 09/03/2024 Time: 13.00-19.30. Online. £85.00. CPD Points 6.5

CPD: Supporting and working with parents in child and play therapy. 

When: 26/03/2024 Time: 17.30-20.30. Online. £50.00. CPD Points 3

Clinical Assessments through a Systemic Lens. Finding out the histories of the clients we work with is an important element of the work we undertake, not only so we can begin to understand the clients’ lived experiences but so we can develop a treatment plan. Working within the trauma and abuse service whilst undertaking an assessment using a systemic lens, it often surprising how we can glean more significant information which often was not included within the referral but also not recognised by the referring professional as to why the client was presenting as they were. This 3 hour CPD will guide you through the process of gathering histories, which help us really understand the complexities of children’s lived experiences. This training will also cover how we present the therapeutic needs of our clients to ensure transparency for funding purposes.                                           

When: 13/04/2024 Time: 9.30-12.30. Online. £30.00. CPD Points 3

AutPlay® Therapy Training. 

When: 13/07/2024 – 14/07/2024 (Delegates are able to enjoy free Sound Bath after training on 13/07/2024)

Time: 9.30-4.30am. Venue: Box End Park, Box End, Bedford, MK43 8RQ. 

Why Complete AutPlay® Therapy training?

AutPlay® Therapy training enables therapists to add to their tool kit by integrating activities to embrace neurodiverse uniqueness and build on client’s strengths. Our friend Clarissa completed AutPlay Therapy. Here Clarrissa shares how AutPlay® Therapy has enhanced her practice.

“I completed Dr. Grant’s AutoPlay® certified play therapy course for working with children with neurodivergent needs. I practise in complex needs schools as well as  mainstream schools and the tools and knowledge gained from the AutoPlay® course have been invaluable. Dr. Grant takes you through what you need to think about in order to work in the playroom safely and effectively with neurodivergent children and their families. The course content was well paced and structured and real world examples were helpful to see what and how to implement AutoPlay®. This course has helped me shape and plan my work  with children needing support with emotional regulation, social functioning and connection experiences. The course is packed with developmental and behavioural input but also fully recognisable as play therapy so it was a win-win. If you get the chance to do the course, go for it! Thanks Dr. Grant! “ Written by, Clarissa Smith. Certified Therapeutic Play Practitioner PgCert & Trainee Play Therapist PgDip, (Provisional). Certified AutoPlay® Provider. Certified Multi-Modal Attachment Therapist. Registered Sandstory® Therapist. Working with Children, Young People and Families: A Psychoanalytical Observational Approach PgCert. Community Development PgDip.

What has been achieved in recent months

We are excited to share with you we have been commissioned to develop bespoke mental health training for schools. Working with school leads has been very interesting and we have now written training programmes focusing on the needs of children and adolescents and how staff can recognise and offer support to promote mental health. 

One of the team has secretly been working on an amazing programme for therapists, counsellors, professionals who are curious, playful and want to explore the unknown! More will be revealed shortly!

Something to ponder on...

A Fostercarers experience of caring for traumatised children

As a foster carer parenting traumatised children in the 90’s, I quickly realised that a loving home, with playful attentive parents and a consistent routine was not always enough for some of the children who came to stay with us. We were professionals who worked with children, my background was in early years care and education and my partner was a primary school teacher. We thought we knew how to care for children, how wrong we were! Yes, we could meet the children’s basic needs, we offered love which was often rejected, we were pushed away as soon as the children felt we were getting too close, a wonderful family day out full of fun and laughter would often end with challenges which were hard to manage and difficult to witness, cycles of behaviours were repeated constant. During our Fostering preparation classes we were given a list of activities to do to help develop an attachment, these activities were second nature to us. Desperate to understand more, I read lots of books! Seeking ways to support and parent children in our care. One book in particular, Building the Bonds of Attachment by Dan Hughes, helped make sense of everything these children were experiencing! I could not put this book down! It enabled me to understand how caring for and parenting traumatised children required a different approach. It felt liberating and confirmed that we were not “rubbish foster carers”, we could support these wonderful children to develop trust with us and begin to heal from some of the traumas they had experienced. 

Come and join us to hear Dan Hughes talk about Providing Therapy & Care for Children and Young People with Relational (Developmental) Trauma, his inspirational work may support you in your work as a foster carer and professional, as you support traumatised children.

We believe community is important in our work supporting the mental health needs of children, young people and adults. Being a community brings us together, which is important when we often work in isolation. Within this edition of our newsletter we would like to give a shout out about Emma Nagle, Accredited Play Therapist, Certified Clinical Supervisor who is very interested in creative processing and will be delivering creative supervision next month in central London. You will find her on facebook and Linkedin or you can contact her at [email protected]

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Newsletter: October 2024

To all those who have attended our recent events! We have been so inspired by you all. Thank you for your feedback which helps us to continue to develop our courses and grow as an organisation to support the therapeutic, educational and social work communities who are supporting children and their mental health and well-being.       …
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