There are 6 main principles of trauma informed practice. How can we apply these to schools? Safety How we make our young people feel safe is a very unique challenge for schools. Understanding a young person and their frame of reference is the first step in trauma informed practice. To understand a young person is
Safety comes before everything in education. We know this to be true, yet it can be increasingly hard to know when it is felt by those accessing our provisions. We can take great steps to broadcast safety, to reassure, to try to empathise...but often when we try to walk in their shoes, it's still us in
Anxiety is a common problem for young people in the UK, and is one of the biggest causes of emotionally based school non-attendance. 3.3% of children and young people in the UK, about 290,000, have an anxiety disorder (Mental health of children and young people in Great Britain; Green, McGinnity, Meltzer, Ford and Goodman, 2005).
One of the biggest areas of misunderstanding when working with children who have SEMH needs or have experienced trauma is around the topic of boundaries and consequences. To be clear - all children require safe boundaries and there are consequences for all actions. I am using the term consequences here in place of punishment quite
Post Covid, engagement in learning has been a key area of need for many schools and young people. Anxieties run high, emotionally based non attendance is a key factor but the time spent out of education has also had an impact on lesson attendance for many. Many young people are increasingly attending school but struggling
Addressing emotionally based school avoidance - a model. Firstly this article will use both this term and emotionally based school non attendance interchangeably. The preferred term at Semh.co.uk is emotionally based school non attendance as this is a factual, non judgemental term. The school avoidance aspect gives a degree of judgement and we try to remain
Updated DECEMBER 2023 - Free relational plan download - see below the table (bottom of the page) There is one way to ensure a relational support plan does not get read - and that is to make it too long. Often too much background information can make it unlikely a document is shared
Whether it is trauma informed, attachment aware, child centred etc etc professionals working with young people strive to understand and address individual needs a young person has. Often the terminology can create difficulties - for example saying trauma informed makes some feel they are making a diagnosis. For this reason I want to lay out
Relationships can make or break a child's experience in school. So how can we help get them off to the right start? In this article we focus in on how pastoral staff can build better relationships. 1. Boundary the relationship early Explain your role and what you are seeking to do. Identify the child's goals
What is an SEMH teacher? An SEMH teacher may be one who works in an advisory capacity between multiple schools, either for a local authority or a trust. They may also work in one particular setting cohorts of young people who experience significant barriers to learning (primarily associated with SEMH). An SEMH professional may also
