Training to support those working in social care, fostering & adoption
We offer a wide range of courses for foster carers, adoptive parents and social work teams. Making sense of young people’s experience with down to earth research from neurobiology, early attachment, trauma and secondary trauma, our courses empower the adults around the child to offer the very best environment for recovery and resilience.
We currently have four courses aligned with the specific challenges we face:
Resilience and Recovery - supporting children and young people through the Covid pandemic and beyond
Caring for the Carers – understanding and managing Secondary Trauma
Practical empathy - powerful communication skills for resilient relationships
Climate anxiety – supporting young people in the face of climate crisis
Please see below for more details of each of these trainings
Resilience and Recovery
Supporting young people through the covid pandemic and beyond
The pandemic has been an unprecedented experience of disruption; lockdown, restrictions, isolation, illness and anxiety caused overwhelming stress and exposed deep inequality. The effects differ from person to person - we were not all in it together.
In this course we will explore and understand the complex ways that it has affected our children and young people and the adults who care for them. We will consider children’s core needs for healthy development and the importance of warm adult relationships. We will grow a new and deeper understanding of what makes us stronger and able to thrive in the face of adversity.
Calling on the research on child development and resilience from neurobiology, we will make sense of what has happened and learn the skills to support meaningful recovery and the growth of resilience to face this and future challenges.
Aims of the day
to explore and understand the complex impact of the covid pandemic on children and young people and those who care for them
to learn from neurobiology research into stress and resilience and the vital importance of relationship in supporting recovery
to develop a plan for effective and practical opportunities for recovery and for growing resilience for the future
As a result of this training participants will:
have the opportunity to reflect on their own and each other’s different experiences of the pandemic in order to make sense and find support
identify the different levels of impact on children and young people and how it can be recognised in behaviour
understand the part trauma plays the conditions needed for trauma recovery
learn practical and effective strategies including the skills of self-regulation and empathic listening for supporting themselves, each other and the young people they work with
Caring for the carers
Understanding and managing secondary trauma
Working with children and adults who are traumatised has an impact that often goes unacknowledged. Trauma is catching and it affects whole networks.
Research has shown that it is an occupational hazard to experience the painful symptoms of trauma in the caring professions. This one-day training course gives you the theory and practices to understand and respond to secondary trauma in order to boost health and resilience in individuals, teams and organisations.
Aims of the day
to learn about the impact on foster carers of living with traumatised young people
to share practical tools for building resilience for everyone in the care network
to use current research and theory to understand and respond healthily to the occupational hazard of secondary trauma
to build stronger, more secure placements within a resilient service
As a result of this training participants will:
have a practical understanding of the nature of secondary trauma and how it affects them in their everyday lives
have a toolkit of practical steps to take to reduce the risk of ongoing trauma and to boost enjoyment of their work
recognise how secondary trauma affects the whole system around the young person and to be able to identify both risks and protective factors
experience the power of support and stress regulation within the community around them
Practical empathy
Powerful communication skills for resilient relationships
Core needs of both children and adults include feeling seen and heard by those who care about us. We need to know that others understand us and are ‘on our side’. When children are cared for by warm, empathic, responsive adults they experience the conditions for trauma recovery and the growth of resilience. The essential skill of empathic responsiveness is simple yet surprisingly hard to get right, as we often don't have it modelled enough in our culture. This course will really get to the heart of how to help others to feel deeply seen and heard in order to build healing relationships.
Aims of the day
to use current neurobiological research to understand how empathic response is the basic building block of co-regulation
to learn and practise down to earth, practical ways of communicating with empathy in order to improve key relationships with young people and the network around them
to build confidence in dealing with challenging conversations and difficult relationships with communication skills that really work.
As a result of this training participants will:
have a practical understanding of the neurobiology of empathy and how it is a core relationship skill
have a toolkit of practical steps to take to respond in a way that builds connection and allows healthy co-regulation
feel confident in using new skills to communicate with children, young people and other adults
experience for themselves the power of empathy to be seen and heard
be able to approach difficult conversations with responses that improve quality of service
Climate anxiety
supporting young people in challenging times
Children and young people are becoming more aware of the growing climate crisis and the uncertain future that they are facing. Climate or eco anxiety is a common response to this awareness; strong feelings that include powerlessness, fear, anger and isolation. Recent research makes clear that without validation from adults, this is made much worse. This course explores what climate anxiety is and what it looks like in the young people you care for. It offers a seven step framework for adults who are rising to the challenge of standing alongside children in the face of an uncertain and frightening present and future.
Aims of the day
to learn a climate psychology perspective on responses to the growing crisis
to explore the experience of climate anxiety and how it specifically impacts traumatised children
to recognise the vital role of adults in supporting young people in care facing climate anxiety
to share practical approaches to supporting young people and those that care for them
As a result of this training participants will:
have a practical understanding of the psychology of climate anxiety
learn about the importance of warm, regulated adult connection for young people
understand the neurological basis of resilience
have a toolkit of practical steps to take to support children in very uncertain times
feel more confident in talking about climate crisis with their young people
develop strategies for support for themselves and colleagues
Strong teams, secure young people and sustainable organisations
Caring for traumatised children is getting a lot more difficult. The impact of the Covid pandemic, school closures, increased stress on families, isolation and stretched services, is putting even the most resourced people under huge pressure.
Foster carers and the teams around them need a deeper level of support than ever to care for young people safely in extraordinary circumstances. Climate anxiety and the impact of trauma is widespread and urgent. We are facing a mental health crisis in both children and adults that is exacerbated by the pandemic.
We need new approaches that build powerful skills and capacity in our workforce. This needs a focus on both supporting the adults themselves and the young people in their care.
Research is showing that young people are feeling badly let down by adults who do not know how to help. Standard off the shelf training courses are no longer enough to equip our teams with the depth of resilience they need to face the changes we are living through.
At LifeKind we know that we need courage to face the severity and scale of the complex crisis we are immersed in. We provide training experiences that go deep into the heart of what makes people thrive in the face of adversity. We know that skilful and whole hearted relationship builds resilience.
This work is urgent and important. We deliver training that engages participants in personal transformation as well as strong theoretical learning - with a warm direct approach that reaches and inspires people whatever their level of experience.