Trauma Informed Education Settings
Do you want to develop a whole school trauma informed approach?
On average 1 in 6 children aged 6-16 experience mental health difficulties (The Centre of Mental Health Report: Children and Young People Mental Health 2021).
At Meadows Psychology Service, we pioneer a revolutionary relational approach to education, placing paramount importance on cultivating an environment where children and young people not only learn but thrive. Our unique methodology centres around fostering a profound sense of safety within the classroom, setting the stage for unparalleled teaching effectiveness.
Why Choose Meadows Psychology Service?
Proactive Relationship Building: We understand that teaching extends far beyond textbooks. Our approach emphasises adeptly employing everyday interactions to proactively nurture relationships, creating a foundation for meaningful connections.
Trauma-Informed Practice: We go beyond conventional methods, supporting the embedding of trauma-informed practice in schools and throughout the entire system. From everyday teaching practices to targeted support, our approach is informed by the latest research and theories on attachment, learning, and developmental trauma.
Strengths-Based Philosophy: Recognising the inherent strengths in every child, our approach is grounded in the belief that behaviour is a form of communication. By understanding and addressing these communications, we empower children to not only attend to but actively engage in the curriculum.
Connection, Regulation, Security: We acknowledge that children’s well-being is integral to effective learning. Our approach prioritises the development of connections with educators and the school, providing the necessary support for emotional regulation, and ensuring a foundation of safety and security through effective boundaries and restorative practices.
Tailored to Your Needs: No two educational settings are alike, and neither are our solutions. We work closely with schools to tailor our approach to their unique context, ensuring the most effective and impactful implementation.
Empowerment Through Connection: Our Therapeutic Education Model
We know that many students have had traumatic experiences, and that trauma can impact learning, behaviour, and relationships at school. Trauma sensitive schools help children feel safe to learn.
Meadows Psychology Service have developed a relational approach to education that focuses on developing a sense of safety for children and young people in the classroom.
We encourage a culture of Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy (PACE) and promote and nurture relational connection and restorative approaches.
Our therapeutic education model transforms classrooms into vibrant spaces of connection, calm, and restoration. Our approach, meticulously designed to cater to the diverse needs of students, is structured around three pillars: Connecting, Calming, and Restoring.
PACE Training Programme
At the core of our therapeutic education training programmes is PACE (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity, and Empathy), which focuses on:
- Understanding the neuroscience and psychology of child and adolescent mental health.
- Comprehending how adverse experiences affect a young person’s emotional regulation.
- Emphasising staff wellbeing and the role of emotionally available adults in schools.
- Developing skills to support emotional regulation in the classroom.
Bespoke Trauma Informed Education Training Packages
In addition to PACE, we offer a variety of tailored training packages to meet your school’s specific needs, including:
- Movement and the Brain
- Play and the Brain
- Restorative Practice in the Classroom
- Emotional Based School Avoidance
- The Importance of Non-Violent Communication in Schools
- And many more
We also provide opportunities for individuals to attend our in-house CPD training sessions, webinars, and online training.
Consultation and Reflective Practice
Consultation
Monthly consultations with staff teams ensure that educators feel confident and skilled in working therapeutically with students. We also offer consultation support for addressing whole school issues and development plans.
Reflective Practice
Recognising the importance of staff resilience and wellbeing, our reflective sessions provide a safe space for school staff to explore their experiences and challenges in working with complex student needs.
Assessments and Outcomes Monitoring
Meadows Psychology Service places significant value on evidencing the impact of our work and helping schools demonstrate the effectiveness of their therapeutic approaches. We ensure robust outcome monitoring systems are in place, allowing you to share results with Ofsted, local authorities, and commissioners.
- Assessments: We offer a range of psychological assessments, including risk assessments (e.g., AIM3), to provide a comprehensive understanding of each student’s strengths and challenges.
- Outcomes Monitoring: We report on outcomes termly, identifying areas for development and intervention. Formulations and recommendations are reviewed and updated based on the data collected.
Individual Therapy
Our team of experienced therapists offers a wide range of modalities to meet the diverse needs of students. We provide:
- A simple and effective referral system.
- Inclusive services, including specialised support from a BSL specialist therapist and a dedicated therapist for the Deaf.
Contact Us
If you want to develop a trauma-informed approach in your school or need expert psychological support, Meadows Psychology Service is here to help. We are committed to ensuring that all students have the opportunity to thrive in a supportive educational environment.
Call our friendly team on 0345 216 1201 or email us at hello@meadowspsychologyservice.co.uk.
We offer a range of services to Education Settings. We will work with you to develop a bespoke package of support that meets your needs and the needs of the children and young people you look after:
Psychological Consultation provides a safe space to explore the needs of the young people you support alongside the challenges of looking after young people who have experienced significant trauma. These sessions can include intervention planning, safeguarding and risk management sharing resources that will support you in your service. Utilising psychological theories of attachment and trauma informed principles we will provide you with therapeutic strategies and support.
Psychological formulation is a structured process used by psychologists and mental health professionals to understand an individual’s difficulties within a broader psychological framework. Through our support we will work with you to understand a young persons story and begin to tentatively make sense how these experiences have influenced their beliefs about themselves, others and the world, how they have developed strategies to keep themselves safe and how their underlying feelings shape the behaviours we see. Psychological formulation provides a way for us to understand the complex interplay of factors contributing to a young person’s difficulties, it also helps us to guide therapeutic interventions. Finally, formulation provides a shared language and framework of understanding so teams are able to work consistently to support the psychological needs of young people.
We want to work closely with you to understand your service and teams. Our MPS consultants will embed into your homes and get to know the staff teams. We work relationally and know that the greatest outcomes will be achieved when we work together and understand each other.
Reflective practice enables teams to reflect on key themes and challenges in their work, and understand the emotional impact of working with children who have experienced trauma. Everyone brings their own experiences into working with children and sometimes we can experience our own relational triggers in work. It is helpful to understand these. We thread reflective practice through all our work in residential children’s homes but also offer reflective spaces.
We understand that working in residential care is both a rewarding and challenging journey. We offer staff wellbeing services to support the emotional needs of staff teams. This can include training around supervision, embedding a supervision framework, wellbeing days, check in calls, 1:1 support and signposting to appropriate services.
We understand the critical importance of clinical and reflective supervision in promoting professional growth and enhancing the quality of care. We can provide a supportive and collaborative environment where practitioners can explore complex cases, reflect on their practice, and gain valuable insights to inform their work. Through a combination of clinical expertise and reflective practice principles, our supervision sessions empower practitioners to deepen their understanding, refine their skills, and enhance their effectiveness in supporting clients.
A psychological assessment is a structured process for gathering information, and understanding a young person’s psychological functioning, cognitive abilities, personality traits and emotional and social wellbeing. We utilise a variety of assessment tools including both standardised and idiographic measures. We have practitioners including forensic psychologists who specialise in the assessment of complex risk including risk of violence and assessment of harmful sexual behaviour.
Our team of consultants have extensive experience working with young people who have experienced significant attachment disruptions. We understand that establishing safety within the therapeutic relationship is paramount and, as such, the approach to, and pace of, therapeutic work is carefully planned in accordance with a young person’s psychological assessment.
All the services we deliver are supported by a robust outcomes monitoring framework to ensure that we are able to evidence the impact of the work we are completing with you and to be able to provide you evidence to your commissioners, social workers of the therapeutic input you are embedding.
We are proud to be able to offer a large resource bank for your service. This includes keyworker tools such as workbooks, mental health information and guides, resources for you to complete direct work, and resources for staff.
Want to find out more?
Fill in the enquiry from here and one of our team will be in touch shortly to answer any questions that you may have. Alternatively, you can contact us using the details below.