Participants are required to have their cameras on for an interactive experience.
Maximum of two people per screen
Sessions are recorded for quality assurance purposes. They are only viewed by SCTS staff and deleted within 14 days.
£500.00 3 hours
New Course - Enhanced Spring 2026 - Currently only delivered by our lead trainer, Scott Henery
This combined course moves beyond surface-level observations to explore the profound neurological and emotional links between early childhood trauma and the coping mechanisms used by children in care. It is designed for residential workers, foster carers, and leaving-care personal advisers, providing a trauma-informed lens to support children through their most challenging behaviours.
Children’s behaviours do not exist in isolation. Self-harm, substance use, and other high-risk coping strategies are often deeply rooted in early trauma and unmet needs. This course helps practitioners understand these behaviours not as problems to eliminate, but as survival strategies to interpret and respond to with skill, confidence, and empathy.
Learning Aims:
The Science of Trauma: How Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) impact brain development and the "fight or flight" response in the amygdala.
The ACE Pyramid: Understanding the link between early adversity and long-term health outcomes.
Beyond the Score: Shifting the focus from "What is wrong with this child?" to "What happened to this child?"
Maladaptive Coping as a Survival Strategy: Exploring why children may resort to substances (nicotine, alcohol, etc.) to cope with an overwhelmed nervous system.
The "Chemical Hug": How self-medication serves as a temporary substitute for secure emotional connections.
Identification & Intervention: Recognising subtle signs of substance use in foster settings without harming therapeutic relationships.
Functions of Self-Harm: Viewing self-harm as a method to manage emotional pain, not merely as a "suicide attempt."
The Cycle of Self-Harm: Breaking the pattern of tension, distress, self-harm, and shame.
Practical Management: Creating "Safety Toolkits" and using techniques like TIPP skills (Temperature, Intense exercise, Paced breathing, Paired muscle relaxation).
Reframing Challenging Behaviour: Seeing self-harm and substance use as learned survival skills.
Secondary Trauma & Self-Care: Acknowledging the emotional impact on staff caring for high-risk children.
Restorative Practice: Balancing boundaries with being a "secure base" for the child.
Advanced Risk Assessment: Identifying tipping points where coping mechanisms may become life-threatening.
Communication Skills: Using the "OARS" technique—Open-ended questions, Affirmations, Reflections, and Summaries—to discuss trauma with children.
Collaborative Safety Planning: Involving the child in their safety plan to foster agency and empowerment.
Why Attend This Enhanced Course?
This course equips professionals with the understanding and practical tools needed to respond to high-risk behaviours through a trauma-informed lens. By reframing behaviours such as self-harm and substance use as survival strategies, practitioners can reduce risk, strengthen relationships, and support long-term change.
Rather than reacting to behaviour, this training supports a shift toward curiosity, connection, and evidence-based intervention—helping professionals feel more confident and effective in complex situations.
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
Recognise the underlying trauma driving high-risk coping behaviours.
Respond to self-harm and substance use in ways that maintain safety and relationships.
Apply practical strategies to reduce harm while building trust and emotional regulation.
"A child who self-harms or self-medicates is not trying to be difficult; they are trying to survive a pain they cannot put into words. Our job is to be the translator and the safety net."
Whose this course for: This course is for school educators, foster carers, and adopters, as well as their supervising social workers. It is also suitable for Residential Child Care Workers (RCCWs) and residential team managers from mainstream, short-breaks, and outreach services.
Format: This is a live training session through the platform "Zoom". It includes taught sections, small-group work, pair work, and whole-group discussions.
Hand-outs & Certificates: Downloadable course notes and certificates of attendance are provided.
This option is aimed at an audience with prior knowledge of the subject and isn’t suitable for. Those that are new to the subject would be better with our standard course.
Generic training can leave staff feeling unprepared for the real-life scenarios they face. Our tailored approach ensures the content, delivery method, and case studies are directly relevant to your sector (e.g., education, healthcare, sport, charity, corporate), your local policies, and the specific vulnerabilities and risks present in your community.
We design engaging, practical, and compliant training across three core areas:
Invest in training that transforms knowledge into action. Equip your team with the confidence and competence to protect those in your care proactively.
We recognise that sometimes groups need more time for discussions and group work. This can mean that a two-hour session is just not long enough to explore the curriculum and engage in question and answer sessions. So we are you offering the opportunity to extend the session by an hour to allow your trainees the chance to explore the curriculum fully!
