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National Trauma Strategy for England

Wales and Scotland have both developed National Trauma Strategies. How come there is not an equivalent strategy in place in England?

IRCT is collaborating with others to initiate a campaign for the development of a National Trauma Strategy for England

The Welsh Government has developed a Trauma Informed Wales Framework stating their reasons for doing so as follows.

During our lives we may all experience traumatic events. Most of us will develop ways to cope with such experiences and will continue our lives without any long-term consequences. We may receive help and support from our families, friends, or others in our community. We must never underestimate the importance and value of such social connections. For some of us, the magnitude of these experiences is such that we will need longer-term specialist help to recover from the impact of trauma. These experiences are likely to have an impact, not only on our physical and mental well-being, but also on our families and relationships with others. We know people affected by trauma may lose trust in individuals and services. However, we have seen examples of where adopting a trauma-informed approach can help to rebuild trust and relationships. This Framework is a significant step in raising awareness and understanding of how trauma can impact on everyone’s lives and provides a consistent way of helping people who have experienced trauma. It is a milestone in our journey towards becoming a trauma-informed nation. Importantly, the Framework helps us to understand the roles we have, and the difference we can make by simply being kinder, more compassionate and more understanding of each other.

The Welsh Government has made support for people’s mental well-being a priority. We recognise that good mental well-being is important to help people realise their potential and cope with life’s challenges. Responding in a trauma-informed manner can improve positive mental well-being. We want to see public services, third sector organisations, communities and individuals adopting this Framework and embedding it into practice, so that all interactions with each other and the people we serve, are based on a trauma-informed approach. Through collective action we know we can make a difference.

We strongly believe working in a trauma-informed way can transform lives, help those living with the impact of trauma to heal and, importantly, empower people to cope or seek help to cope with the many challenges life brings.

Sylvia Duncan and Jon Reid recently met with MP Jess Asato who is passionate about improving policy and practice to support the well-being and recovery of the most vulnerable members of our communities. She is Chair of the APPG for Children and IRCT is collaborating with this APPG on trauma related issues. Following our discussions with her, she has said she would be willing to raise a question in the House of Commons to the Minister for Children & Families to establish what plans the Government have to develop a National Trauma Strategy for England. IRCT are working with others to provide a briefing document to support this campaign.

We will provide updates as they become available.

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IRCT appointed as secretariat for the APPG for childhood trauma

We’re delighted to announce that IRCT is now providing the secretariat for the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Childhood Trauma, influencing parliamentarians to consider the impact of childhood trauma when developing policy. 

Together with parliamentarians and key stakeholders we aim to promote increased awareness and understanding of the impact of complex childhood trauma and the implications for both statutory and voluntary services.

The APPG is chaired by Wera Hobhouse MP, details of other members of the Group can be found here.

If there are policy issues you think the APPG should consider or you would like to be added to the mailing list, please contact sarah@irct.org.uk

 

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ABSOLUTELY NO COST 2-day training by Arizona Trauma Institute Sponsored by Richard Cross in Trauma and the Sensory System

This is a two-day training course that will be presented from a Trauma & Occupational Therapy
Lens. This course will emphasize trauma’s effect on the physiology of the body with an
emphasis on the sensory system. Intervention approaches to using the body’s sensory system
as a channel to effective treatment will be provided and will follow the active ingredients
(Salutogenic) guidelines.

This course aims to understand better how we can utilize the body as a way to more efficiently
and effectively heal Trauma.

When: April 1st and 2nd, 2021 8:30 to 4:30 MST (the UK is 7 hours ahead, so 3.30 pm –
1130pm – please note once registered, you can come back and watch the replay on
demand).

The replay on demand will be available through the 18th of April 2021

 

Click here to Register
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EVENT: PREVENTING THE PERMANENT EXCLUSION OF VULNERABLE CHILDREN

Click here to attend

CONFERENCE   (online)  

16th April 2012 10am-3pm

PREVENTING THE PERMANENT EXCLUSION OF VULNERABLE CHILDREN

The majority of children permanently excluded from schools are those who already have a history of adverse childhood experiences and have been traumatized. It is perverse that the children in most need of stability, understanding and support are those who are far more likely to be rejected by the very people who are paid to look after them in loco parentis and prepare them for adulthood. Currently many more children have been deeply traumatised as a result of their experiences during lockdown. They are returning to some schools that may not understand how to support the healing process needed to enable them to re-engage with learning. This conference explores this issue and suggests strategies to help all professionals who work with vulnerable children to help keep them in schools rather than excluding them.

A VIRTUAL ONE DAY CONFERENCE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE FOLLOWING DELEGATES: –

Head Teachers and Senior Leaders

Head Teachers and staff of Virtual Schools

Teachers

Lead Members for Children’s Services

Directors of Children’s Services

Educational and Clinical Psychologists and other Child Therapists

Managers and Senior LA Officers engaged in work for Looked After Children (LAC)

University researchers

All adults interested in the education, safeguarding and welfare of vulnerable children.

Programme

10.00 – 10.10

 Sylvia Duncan (Chair of IRCT)

Welcome and introductions

10.I0 – 10.40  

Patrick Finegan ( Head of Looked After and Vulnerable Children Royal National Springboard Foundation)

 “Why Permanently Exclude Children from Schools?”

Patrick will put forward a case for permanent exclusions to be no longer tolerated as they are unnecessarily cruel and have proven to be damaging to the life chances of vulnerable children. He will propose alternative strategies that are often ignored.

10.40 – 10.50 Q&A

10.50 – 11.10 Fallout Group Discussion.

11.10 – 11.40  

Andrew Wright  (Virtual School Head & Chairman of ARC)

“Looked After Children”

Andrew will discuss the practical problems facing schools and Virtual Schools as vulnerable children return to school. He will deal with the issue of avoiding exclusions by advocating for more understanding of attachment and trauma as set out by ARC (Attachment Research Community).

11.40 – 11.50 Q&A

11.50 – 12.10  Fallout Group Discussion

12.10-12.20 Comfort Break

12.20- 12.50

Janet Rose (Principal Norland College)

“Supporting vulnerable children through Emotion Coaching”

Janet will outline how Emotion Coaching might support vulnerable and traumatised children, particularly in relation to the impact of COVID on their lives.

12.50-13.00 Q&A

13.00-13.20 Fallout Group Discussion

13.20-13.40 Lunch

13.40-14.10

Kate Cairns (Training Director Kate Cairns Associates)

“Responding to Trauma-driven Behaviour: social exclusion or community resilience?”

Trauma-driven behaviour, in all its many manifestations, is socially challenging. It often leads to social exclusion. Yet such exclusion is damaging not just to the traumatised person but also to the community doing the excluding. Human communities are only genuinely resilient when they can operate from a base of compassionate reason, absorbing and transforming the disruption of trauma so that individuals can recover and the whole community can thrive.

14.10-14.20  Q&A

14.20-14.30 Fallout Group Discussion

14.30-15.00 Closing Plenary

Tickets

Members £30

Non-Members £60 (which includes the option of a one year membership of IRCT (normally £50)

Click here to attend

Andrew is the Head Teacher of Dudley Virtual School for Children In Care supporting over 600 young people in their educational settings. He is also the Chair Of the Attachment Research Community and currently chairs the WMVS CiC Charity Foundation.

Andrew has over 40 years of teaching experience, including over 10 years as Head Teacher/Principal, in a range of secondary school across the West Midlands. A clear strategic thinker, Andrew has an expertise in school improvement within challenging settings, transforming the ethos of schools, the behaviour, attendance, and attainment of young people. He has been recognised by Ofsted as a leader who sets ‘a clear direction and vision focusing on raising aspirations and achievements.

Andrew has a keen understanding of developing an inclusive curriculum both within and across schools. He has influenced innovation in curriculum design through a range of strategic roles including chair of a collaborative network of schools, regional and national strategy groups and has directly integrated partners from the world of work into the learning experiences.

As the Head Teacher of the Virtual School, Andrew is committed to developing a sustainable system of support to enable all children to develop into independent and successful adults. He recognises the importance of strong partnerships across services, businesses and agencies and has developed a menu of support and opportunities in a ‘Learning Tool Kit’ for children in care. 

Patrick Finegan is a qualified teacher with extensive experience in all phases of education. He was a highly successful Primary Head Teacher, taking two schools out of Ofsted categories, and was a School Adviser in the West Midlands as well as being a Lead Ofsted Inspector. Patrick is an experienced Virtual Head for Looked After Children (8 Local Authorities) and has been an adviser to three government ministers. He was an expert witness for the House of Commons Select Committee for Looked After Children.

Patrick was the Executive Head Teacher of Sandwell Transition Education Partnership Service (STEPS) which is a unique school for international newly arrived children. He was the treasurer of NAVSH and is a trustee of the Institute for the Recovery of Childhood Trauma (IRCT). Recently he was the Virtual Head of Wokingham and is currently the Head of Looked After and Vulnerable Children for the Royal National Children’s Springboard Foundation.

Kate Cairns is an author, speaker and trainer with an international reputation for her work around attachment, trauma and resilience, particularly in relation to vulnerable children and young people. She has been a social worker for forty years, and a trainer for twenty years

With her husband Brian and their three birth children, Kate provided a permanent family for twelve other children between 1975 and 1997. Thereafter, she worked as a trainer/consultant and writer for the British Association for Adoption and Fostering. In 2002 she published Attachment, Trauma and Resilience, which explored how these three key concepts could provide a structure for understanding ourselves and those with whom we work. The book became a bestseller for BAAF and has influenced practice around the world.

Over the past decade, Kate has concentrated on translating the insights of current neuroscientific research on brain development and function into accessible knowledge and practice skills for carers and practitioners working with children and young people, and for those who support them. She has developed online learning and vocational qualifications, and provided widely-acclaimed training and consultancy to both universal and specialist services across social work, child care, health and education.

Since conducting research for her first book, Surviving Paedophilia (now reissued as Circles of Harm), Kate has been convinced that working with vulnerable people has to be a collaborative exercise. She therefore feels it is a great privilege to be part of a group of associates who embody the shared understanding and vision, and the unity of purpose and action, that are the vital ingredients for supporting recovery and transformation after trauma.

Dr Janet Rose is a currently Principal of Norland College and a former Associate Professor and Reader in Education at Bath Spa University.  She has a wealth of experience in supporting children and young people, including those who have experienced trauma.  She led the national research project Attachment Aware Schools and Trauma Informed Practice, which comprised a comprehensive programme of support for children and young people affected by early attachment difficulties, trauma and neglect.  She is also co-founder of Emotion Coaching UK which trains and researches the use of Emotion Coaching as a practical strategy to support the development of children’s and young people’s self-regulation, behaviour, wellbeing and resilience, including children and young people who have experience trauma.  She has worked closely with numerous Virtual Schools and organisations who support Looked After Children and is currently a member of the Ministerial Care Leaver Summit.  She is the author of numerous academic and professional publications related to attachment and trauma, the most recent of which is a book on Emotion Coaching. She is also an Associate for Kate Cairns Associates. 

 

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Make Permanent Exclusions Illegal

Permanently excluding a child is an act in which a school decides,
plans, and then carries out the traumatic punishment of rejecting that
child. There is no moral argument to justify saying to a child that they
are no longer wanted by the institution whose function is to act in loco
parentis for a substantial period of that child’s life.

Why is this important?
In state-run schools, and in private schools, where at least part of the funding
came from government, corporal punishment was outlawed by the British
Parliament in 1986, following a 1982 ruling by the European Court of Human
Rights that such punishment could not be administered without parental
consent, and that a child’s “right to education” could not be infringed by
suspending children who, with parental approval, refused to submit to corporal
punishment.

It became apparent that hitting children in school was morally wrong and now
it is illegal. Permanently excluding a child is an act in which a school decides,
plans, and then executes the traumatic punishment of rejection. The
similarity with the decision making, planning and then execution of a
physical attack on a child is painfully obvious. There is no moral argument to
justify saying to a child they are no longer wanted by the institution that is set
up to act in loco parentis for a substantial period of that child’s life.

The first objection to making permanent exclusion illegal will inevitably be that
schools cannot cope with the behaviour of some children and they need to be
able to safeguard other children and staff. In order to make permanent
exclusions illegal this objection has to be answered to the complete
satisfaction of both teachers and parents. If the law were to change then it
would have to be accompanied by an increase in school budgets to ensure
they are able to adequately fund the options that are available instead of
permanently excluding the child. This proposal fully recognises that this is a
pre-requisite and requires all those who might support this movement to sign
up to ensuring schools are able to deliver their new statutory duty and ensure
all their children receive a full-time education until their legal school leaving
age.

The moral argument for not permanently excluding a child is clear. If for a
minute you ignore the reason for the permanent exclusion, then the action of
removing a child from its school is a traumatic event which inevitably has
consequences for the child. Put simply it is a rejection of the child by an
organisation which is charged with acting as a good parent while it educates
them. The act of a permanent exclusion (rejection) is not one a good parent
would countenance and yet we allow schools to do this based on the excuse
that there was no other option. We aim to prove this is a false premise which
allows schools to abdicate all responsibility for a child who they were
supposed to nurture and educate.

To demonstrate the number and variety of options a school can already use
instead of a permanent exclusion the following list (which is not exhaustive)
has been assembled:

1. Part time timetables
2. Temporary exclusion while other options are sought.
3. Managed move to another school
4. Counselling
5. Mentoring
6. Therapy
7. Move to a pupil referral unit
8. Move to a special school
9. Alternative education providers
10. Early move to college

  • 78% of pupils who are permanently excluded either have SEN, are classified
    as in need or are eligible for free school meals.
  • 11% of permanently excluded children have all three characteristics Boys with social, emotional, and mental health difficulties (SEMH) but no statement are around 3.8 times more likely to be permanently excluded than a
    non-SEN child.
  • SEMH girls are around 3 times more likely. Children in receipt of Free School Meals are around 45% more likely to be excluded than other pupils
  • Black Caribbean are around 1.7 times more likely, and Mixed White and Black
    Caribbean children were around 1.6 times more likely, to be permanently excluded compared to White British children.
  • Children on a Children in Need plan are around 4 times more likely to be
    permanently excluded compared to those with no social care classification
    Children who have a Child Protection Plan are around 3.5 times more likely to
    be permanently excluded.
  • Children who are looked after are around 2.3 times as likely to be permanently
    excluded than children who have never been supported by social care.
    It is clear that if you are a vulnerable child, you are far more likely to be
    excluded than those who are not vulnerable.

It is perverse that the children in most need of stability, understanding and
support are those who are far more likely to be rejected by the very people
who are paid to prepare them for adulthood.
This campaign seeks to make permanent exclusions illegal whilst promoting
fair funding to support schools so they can organise education that does not
include the trauma inflicted on children who become permanently excluded. It
also wishes to promote the use of whole school training in order to enable
schools to recognise and support children for whom previous trauma and/or
attachment difficulties are at the heart of their behaviour problems. It is
important for all school staff to be aware that many young people have
suffered trauma in their early years and know how to help them overcome the
impact this often has on their ability to learn and socialise. We believe all
schools should be willing to train their staff so the number of incidents leading
to exclusions can be dramatically reduced. Strategies such as Emotion
Coaching and Conflict Resolution can be extremely helpful in this area and
many schools have drastically reduced their exclusion rates after such
training. It is the very antithesis of the “zero tolerance” discipline policies
where permanent exclusion is regarded as a legitimate form of blackmail in an
attempt to frighten a child into conforming.

The IRCT is starting this national campaign in order to encourage all schools,
politicians, and parents to come up with a different system than the current
one which officially tells children they are no longer wanted by their school.
Many of the children permanently excluded have already suffered Adverse
Childhood Experiences. To officially inflect another trauma on these children is
both cruel and unnecessary.

All children permanently excluded are still legally entitled to a full-time
education which the local authority has to provide. Why then does there have
to be a formal rejection of the child in order to try and find suitable education
for these children? Surely the organisation that knows them best should be
central to ensuring any new plan addresses the needs of the child.

Click here to sign the Petition
Click here to attend the Event
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IRCT BEST PRACTICE FORUM ONLINE EVENT

YOU’RE INVITED TO THE IRCT BEST PRACTICE FORUM ONLINE EVENT!

Friday, 12th of March 2021 / 10:00 – 12:30 (GMT)

BEST PRACTICE FORUM WEBINAR: ATTACHMENT & TRAUMA INFORMED CARE

ORIT BADOUK EPSTEIN

‘The role fear plays in the severely traumatised client’

Orit will be discussing the core principles of Attachment Theory. In particular she will focus on Disorganised attachment and the way in which fear manifests itself in clients who have suffered childhood neglect and abuse.

Orit Badouk Epstein is a UKCP registered Attachment based Psychoanalytic psychotherapist, a trainee supervisor and a trainee therapist. She trained at the Bowlby Centre, London where she is the Editor of the journal “Attachment-New Directions in Psychotherapy and Relational Psychoanalysis”. She specialises in attachment theory and trauma and regularly lectures.

RICHARD CROSS

‘Creating Resiliency for Professionals when Working with Traumatised Children: harnessing understanding of attachment and trauma within organisational group and individual contexts’

Richard Cross is a UKCP registered psychotherapist and child psychotherapist. He has worked with children and young people since 1991 when he became interested in trauma, dissociation and attachment. This led him to collaboration with Dr Sandra Bloom to implement and pilot an trauma-informed approach called ‘The Sanctuary Model’ in the UK in 2004. He is Head of Assessment & Therapy at Five Rivers Child Care where he leads research and development on collaboration with AFC/UCL and supports a team of psychologists and psychotherapists developing innovative approaches such as ATIC (Attachment & Trauma Informed Care).

Reserve your place!
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Online event 3 June 2020 – Tickets available now

The Mulberry Bush and Orb8 are presenting a half day online session titled ‘Re-thinking Foster Care: Therapeutic Approaches’ 

Date: Wednesday 3 June 2020

Programme
10.00 – 10.10 Brief Introductions

10.10 – 10.30 Jane Herd, Orb8: What makes fostering therapeutic?

10.30 – 11.00 Discussion

11.00 – 11.20 Harvey Gallagher, NAFP: Implications for sector development

11.20 – 11.50 Discussion

12.00 – 12.20 The Mulberry Bush: Training and reflective practice for foster carers

12.20 – 13.00 Discussion and Plenary: Where do we go from here?

 

To find out more and book a space, follow the link below

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/re-thinking-foster-care-therapeutic-approaches-tickets-92871492133

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IRCT ONLINE AGM (Report & Accounts year ending 30 November 2019)

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, we had to cancel our AGM on the 27th March 2020, but do still need to file the IRCT Annual Report and Accounts for the year ending 30th November 2019 with Companies House and the Charity Commission. We have until the beginning of August this year to do this.

The Annual Report and Accounts are ready for sign off by the Trustees and Members of the Charity, but due to the cancellation of the AGM this could not be done.

Companies House has recently said to all companies with the same problem that we can hold the AGM;

  1. By phone
  2. Using proxy voting
  3. Holding the AGM online

We have decided to hold the AGM online and will send Members the Annual Report and Accounts together with a link to vote on Tuesday 14th April 2020 with casting votes made by 24th April 2020.

More details will be sent to Members via email.

Thank you again for your continued support and cooperation during these challenging times.