Whenever I am asked what is the most useful starting point to building a children’s or youth ministry where every child thrives, I always answer – PACE!

PACE is a brilliant tool, created by leading child psychologist, Dan Hughes, which describes an affirming, relational approach that aims to make a child feel safe. It’s an approach that, I think, works for most children and young people, however, it’s particularly useful when journeying with children who may have experienced trauma.

Discover the power of a PACE approach, focusing on Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy, to create a nurturing, engaging environment for every child.

This engaging and interactive session is designed to equip you with practical tools and strategies to enhance your children’s or youth ministry – with plenty of opportunity to connect and learn from others as you reflect on your own experience and setting.

PDFs of training resources will be sent in advance of the event and this session includes access to the Wonderful Me! Behaviour Reflection Tool to support you and your team in bringing curiosity, empathy and understanding that enables every child and young person to feel seen and heard.

For more information on future dates please get in touch

In this session we will be exploring a little of the world of Neuro-science as we begin to unpack the basics of brain development and developmental trauma. Sound scary?? Don’t worry – we’ll keep it simple and grounded as we discover a little more of how we are fearfully and wonderfully by a loving God who has built hope and the possibility for healing and restoration into the very fabric of creation!

We will be using Daniel Siegel’s super simple but very brilliant ‘Hand Brain’ model as we explore what is going on when we ‘flip our lid’ and we’ll dig into some practical tools to help us respond when that might happen as well as some useful strategies to help children and young people feel safe and avoid times of dysregulation.

This session also includes the Wonderful Me! ABC to creating trauma-informed safe spaces!

For more information on future dates please get in touch

Do you have children or young people in your group who struggle to join in with certain activities?

Have you ever had a session that has felt particularly challenging with lots of fizzy children and behaviour incidents?

It may be helpful to consider the part that our senses play in helping us remain regulated and feeling safe.

Did you know that you have more than 5 senses??!!

Our senses can be a beautiful gift that help us interact with the world around us – but in a world full of stimulation, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed.

In this session, we will be exploring 8 key senses as we consider how to help our children and young people engage well and feel safe in our groups. Our time together will be full  of practical ideas to ‘up regulate’ and ‘down regulate’ our senses along with some practical strategies in how to structure your provision to help ensure every child feels safe and can avoid sensory overwhelm.

We are surrounded by communication – messages that we continually give and receive through what we hear, through what we see, through what we say, through what we feel…

In this session we will consider how to tune in and listen well to the children and young people in our care as we explore some of the many ways that they communicate with us.

We will also look at the importance of effective communication in creating safe spaces that children can navigate well.

These strategies are particularly important for children and young people with Autism or ADHD or for those who may have experienced trauma but, in my experience, they are useful to most children in creating safe spaces where they can flourish.

MORE INFORMATION COMING SOON

In January 2024, I worked with CYM – The Institute for Children, Youth and Mission – to create an online learning course for them exploring what it might look like to bring a trauma sensitive approach to children’s, youth and family ministry. The course unpacks some practical tools, strategies and approaches to help ensure we are creating spaces that are led safely and, very importantly, that feel safe for every child that we are journeying with and we’ll consider how we can effectively support families in our churches and communities with care experienced children.

You can find out more [here]