CPD courses

We have learnt over our 12 years as a service working with families and professionals from the Lothians that similarly to the young people, we work with adults feel safer and securer to learn and share thoughts and feelings in small groups that are experiential.

Therefore, our training packages are targeted at groups of 14 but we can adapt for bigger groups.

Staff consultations can support members of the team to explore relational principles to develop and strengthen relationships. While gaining new skills and strategies through thinking about the importance of play in supporting the children they work with.

Please contact us directly for costs for our trainings or to discuss your teams needs as we can create a bespoke training event to meet specific service needs.

 

Training 1: Using play strategies to support emotional wellbeing in our children
Who is the training targeted at?

Practitioners working with children 3 to 12 years old in nursery, school, or organisations.
What will participants gain?

This course offers practitioners a space to explore play and the use of play materials to support children’s sense of self and resilience. Participants will explore scenarios from their own setting and be supported to understand more about responses and play opportunities that build on children’s resilience and unmet needs.
What will participants experience?

  • Participants will have reflected on the significance of gaps within children’s play experiences from birth.
  • Participants will have had the opportunity to reflect on experiences in the setting they work in when working with children who disengage in interactions, become overwhelmed or display angry outbursts.
  • Participants will link theory and experiences together to assist participants to respond to individual children’s needs while using empathic listening skills.

 

Training 2: Using play and play materials to support communication of experiences
Who is the training targeted at?

Practitioners working with children 3 to 12 years old in nursery, school, or organisations
What will participants gain?

The course offers participants a space to think about the impact experiences and events have on the children ability to communicate and express emotions. Participants will explore the impact of experiences on a child play developmental wall and have space to link this to the children they work with. Thinking about strategies and responses that are supportive.
What will participants experience?

  • Creating a Play Wall to think about experiences and impacts.
  • Containment: the group will focus through reflection on the importance of creating containment within a play setting. Participants will be given the opportunities to reflect on successful practice while exploring new skills and ideas and looking at the challenges to meet individual needs in a busy setting/ environment.
  • Empathic listening skills: focusing on interactions with children using reflection and observation. Participants will have the opportunity to explore empathic listening skills using play materials.
  • The importance of angry play: exploring the need for angry play in a child’s development, looking at secondary emotions when anger is displayed in interactions. Participants will be given the opportunity to reflect on experiences and the need for all children to express emotions in a safe way.