This practical, skills-based course—grounded in over 1,000 evidence-based psychological, medical, and neuroscientific studies—empowers school and community staff to support vulnerable children and young people affected by trauma or mental health challenges. It provides the knowledge and skills to deliver effective interventions for mild to moderate mental health problems, focusing on recovery. Aligned with the government’s Transforming Children and Young People’s Mental Health Provision Green Paper (2017), the training promotes cultural change, reduces teacher stress and absence, improves staff retention, and fosters mentally healthy, resilient school communities.
"I can honestly say that it was, by far, the best, most insightful, profoundly moving, expertly evidenced, endlessly interesting and fascinating, relevant and (as I’m sure will be testified to before long) most useful training I have received in my teaching career." Diploma Delegate
WHAT YOU WILL GAIN FROM ATTENDING
Working with young people…
- Learn to relate to children and young people in trauma informed ways.
- How to respond to children who are in distress/ stress states.
- Know how to listen and empathise when children want to talk.
- Develop an in-depth understanding of what it’s like for a child or teenager to suffer from specific mental health problem.
- Develop an in-depth understanding of the long-term impact of specific adverse childhood experiences.
- Employ strategies for early intervention.
Whole School Implementation…
- Work to increase the protective factors and ‘safety cues’ in the school culture.
- Enable other staff to think psychologically about pupils.
- Understand when challenging behaviour and explosive outbursts are likely to be trauma triggers.
- How to calm children.
- Relate to children in ways that enable them to move from blocked trust to trust.
- The brain science and psychological research on child mental health problems and their impact.
- What children need in their relationships with adults, so they don’t suffer misdiagnosis, distress, or additional trauma.
- Support staff to prevent high levels of stress, secondary trauma, and leaving the profession.
Diploma Course Dates and Application Information
Diploma courses are run nationally and regionally. Regional courses allow you to build a network of practitioners local to your area, however with the development of virtual networks, participants on all courses form close connections with their fellow delegates, which are often maintained on completion.
Who it is for:
You need to be working with young people on a regular basis or in a strategic role supporting staff who are working with young people. No previous experience required. Please read our duty of care to delegates.
Cost:
£1,595 (no VAT)
Qualification Received:
Level 5 Diploma, with TISCUK Practitioner status.
TISCUK Practitioners receive half termly newsletters with news, latest research, training opportunities, updated resources and documentation, CPD and support. They are eligible to join their local free regional practitioner network who meet online termly for free support, advice and networking.
To maintain TISCUK Practitioner status delegates must complete 3 sessions of professional supervision per year, see full details here.
COURSE STRUCTURE:
The Diploma course is run over 11 days across two terms. There is an expectation to complete approximately 50 hours of work-based learning to deliver a twenty-minute Power Point presentation on Day 11 demonstrating how you have implemented your learning for the course. There is no written exam.
Courses are either delivered live online via Zoom, face to face, or blended with a mix of online and face to face. The online sessions follow the same format as face-to-face courses, including small group work. Online sessions are interactive, so delegates are required to have a camera and microphone on their device and expected to have their cameras on for the duration of the training. The delivery of content is intensive and to complete the course and take the assessment 100% attendance is required on all days.
During online courses you will interact with all the delegates and trainers through Zoom, and it will follow the same format as our face to face courses.
Please note: this training qualifies you to work within an organisational setting e.g. school or community group. It does not qualify you to work privately with families, children or adults.
The Institue of Arts in Therapy and Education run a 13-day University accredited version of the Diploma training (accredited by the University of East London) which carries 20 credits (Level 5). The first 11 days are common to the 11 day diploma course, the additional 2 days cover the exploration and deepening of skills, including Peer Supervision, Big Empathy Practice, Sand Tray Experiential and Sand Tray in Supervision, and improving confidence to have Conversations that Matter with children, teenagers, and ourselves. There is also an additional written assessment. The cost is £3685 (including £435 UEL university registration fee). Click here for full details.
"The Middle School Ofsted went so well and the inspector who carried out the SEND interview was completely on board with the TISUK approach to behaviours in school. I felt I had the confidence to talk about trauma simply because I had such amazing input from your training and from the professional dialogue that we all shared. I really can't thank you enough for this. We were moved from 'Requires Improvement' to 'Good'. I always knew intuitively what I was doing, but the amazing thing about the TISUK training is that it gave me intellectual concepts and evidence based psychological theories to communicate this to others."
Sati Witts, Class Teacher, EYs co-ordinator then SENCO, Abbey Park First and Middle School, Worcestershire.
"I feel as if I have found a secret room in a house which I knew was there but which I couldn't find. I have found it in dreams but, on waking up, I knew it wasn't true. Now I am touching the door handle and I am awake! I cannot thank you enough. I feel different."
2020 Delegate
