Training & Interventions

The aim of this workshop is to equip practitioners and managers with the skills and knowledge to work more confidently with parents who are displaying complex and challenging behaviour. Parents may have experienced their own Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) resulting from intergenerational destructive parental conflict/domestic abuse and often struggle to acknowledge their behaviour is harming the children. They can feel judged and blamed and often withdraw from support or practitioners may be fearful of making things worse and only focus on the presenting symptoms. This programme will empower front line practitioners to confidently probe deeper using professional curiosity and overcome their fears by:

~ Recognising the difference between Coercive Control, Situational Violence and Destructive Parental Conflict
~ Identifying and responding to the signs of Parental Alienation
~ Exploring how unconscious bias can be a barrier to achieving positive outcomes
~ Approaching the conflict through a Trauma Lens
~ Engaging more confidently with “challenging parents”
~ Incorporating Social Graces into their work to build rapport with parents and children
~ Confidently capturing the child’s voice by identifying their role and experience within the conflict
~ Providing de-escalation strategies to improve constructive communication between parents

The aim of this programme is for Social Workers to identify the difference between unconscious and conscious Parental Alienation (PA) and assess the impact of harm on the child. It is becoming increasingly relevant to Social Workers that PA it is a form of emotional abuse. Parental Alienation can cause long term emotional harm to a child’s identity, development and long-term mental health. It is critical that Social Workers know how to identify this and do not become influenced by the agenda of the parents. Front line practitioners may struggle to identify who is the protective parent as children can be coached and coerced or maybe too fearful to speak out. While alienation can be exhibited solely by one parent, it is often a combination of child and adult behaviours that lead to the child rejecting or resisting spending time with one parent. By attending this workshop practitioners will be able to:

~ Identify potential triggers for Post Separation Abuse
~ Identify and respond to the alienating behaviour
~ Protect the child from the influence of the alienating parent
~ Empower parents to resolve the conflict without involving the child
~ Educate parents about the long-term harm caused by alienation
~ Create a timeline with the child prior to the separation
~ Gain the child’s true wishes and feelings
~ Prevent cases escalating to Public Law Outline
~ Reduce referrals to Child Adolescent Mental Health Teams (CAMHS)

This programme is aimed at practitioners engaging with parents who have diagnosed/undiagnosed personality disorders. Although many parents pose no serious risk of harm to children, the behaviours of parents with Cluster B personality disorders can cause long term harm to their children. Many front-line practitioners will also find themselves subject to complaints or are simply overwhelmed with the amount of time being spent with these parents. Many Serious Case Reviews highlight parents with Narcissistic behaviour however there is a lack of resources for professionals to work confidently with these parents.
The true impact of harm caused by parents with the disorder is hidden as children may be too fearful to speak out. By offering alternative methods of engaging with these parents and by understanding the underlying behaviours, practitioners, will be able to confidently build trust with parents and gain the true voice of the child by:

~ Paying attention to inconsistencies
~ Learning strategies to build rapport and increase ~ engagement
~ Recognising and responding to the non-verbal reactions
~ Understanding the parents may have unresolved historical trauma
~ Gaining the true voice of the children
~ Identifying the specific role of the child
~ Identifying their role in the Karpman Drama Triangle

This 6-week group programme is an intervention that will support parents to recognise the signs of domestic abuse and safeguard their children from further harm. It will empower and educate parents to understand the impact of their behaviour and the long-term effects on both the child and the targeted parent. This trauma informed approach will equip parents to identify their own triggers that lead to domestic abuse and implement strategies to de-escalate the conflict. It will support parents to understand how the domestic abuse and their own unresolved trauma could be impacting on their parenting and the child. By reflecting on their own childhood adversities and linking these to their current parenting style, parents will be able to protect their children by taking the appropriate action required. By attending this two day Train the Trainer programme practitioners will be able to:

~ Help parents understand how domestic abuse affects them as a parent
~ Support parents to recognise the impact of domestic abuse on their child
~ Show parents how the domestic abuse is affecting the targeted parent
~ Educate parents to recognise the signs of Child Trauma.
~ Support parents to communicate effectively with their child
~ Empower parents to increase empathic responses to their child
~ Teach parents protective behaviours to keep their child safe

To equip practitioners with the knowledge and skills to fully explore relationships and behaviours within families to create a quality assessment. By utilising the family Genogram, practitioners will have access to a definitive map of the client’s inner journey which can result in a quality intervention and uncover the patterns of behaviour and intergenerational abuse.

~ Improve participation between the client and the practitioner
~ Assist both the parent and the practitioner to identify the patterns of behaviour and address the underlying issues
~ To assess the current support networks, the influences on personal development and interpersonal relationships which need improvement.
~ To consider the impact of parenting styles and Social
~ Graces when exploring family functioning
~ Support families to overcome resistance when they can identify the connections between historical family members.
~ Increase opportunities to use professional curiosity and probing skills
~ To assess if the child has adequate support from extended family and to identify positive relationships
~ To identify family members who may be a risk to the child.
~ To support the family, identify current behaviour’s which act as triggers or support active use.