Archive: Training

Building trauma-informed leadership together

Family Futures is excited to be partnering with the Global Foundation for Care Fellows by Experience to co-create and deliver a bespoke trauma-informed training module for the organisation’s 2026 cohort of Care Fellows.

Founded and led by Emmanuel Sherwin (Mani), the Global Foundation for Care Fellows by Experience is an international NGO dedicated to amplifying the voices and leadership of people with lived experience of alternative care. By bringing together care-experienced advocates and changemakers from around the world, the foundation creates opportunities for learning, collaboration and systems change.

Over the past six months, Family Futures has worked closely with Mani and members of the 2025 cohort to develop a training workshop that reflects the realities, strengths and aspirations of care-experienced leaders. Drawing on our expertise in trauma, attachment and therapeutic practice, the bespoke module we’ve developed explores the impact of trauma on the body, relationships and emotional wellbeing, while providing practical approaches to resilience, emotional regulation and healing.

The training has been shaped through ongoing collaboration with the fellows themselves, ensuring that lived experience remains at the heart of its design. This co-production reflects the shared values of both organisations: recognising the expertise that comes from lived experience and creating opportunities for individuals and communities to thrive.

In July 2026, Jay Vaughan MBE from Family Futures will co-deliver the training with Mani in Bangkok, supporting the next group of Care Fellows as they develop their leadership skills and continue to drive positive change across the globe.

This partnership reflects an approach rooted in collaboration and responsiveness, where training is developed in close dialogue with the organisations and communities it is intended to support, and shaped by their specific contexts and needs. Whether working with charities, local authorities, schools, healthcare providers or international organisations, Family Futures supports the development of tailored, trauma-informed learning that is grounded in evidence and practice.

For organisations exploring this kind of work, we are always open to conversation about how such approaches might be developed together. Please contact Tamsyn, our Learning and Development Partner, if you’d like to discuss an idea with us.

Bookings now open! Start your journey to become a certified NPP Practitioner

Our new NPP training course is now open for bookings! We’re delighted to be offering an early bird discount of 10% on bookings before 31st March. Jay Vaughan MBE will deliver NPP Level 1 training on 20–24 October 2025, with days 1 and 5 online and days 2-4 in person at Family Futures in London.

NPP (Neuro Physiological Psychotherapy) is an evidenced based therapy that has been tried and tested with families for over 25 years. It is child-centred and holistic, enabling you to select the most appropriate intervention to support different levels of the brain and the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), depending on the individual needs of each child you are working with.  

By attending NPP Level 1, you will become an NPP informed practitioner and will be equipped to decide when it’s most appropriate to use body-based, attachment-enhancing or reflective therapies, or a blend of these, in your work with children and families. 

To get your early bird discount of 10% please use code TRAINING25 when you are placing your order.

What will I learn in the NPP Level 1 training?

Using theory, case studies and experiential experience during the training, you will learn about the Family Futures’ NPP model and the importance of working with the body and brain together. The training will cover:
Day one – Research & Multidisciplinary Assessment
Day two – Principles of the NPP approach and primitive brain therapy
Day three –  Limbic brain therapy  
Day four – Cortical brain therapy
Day five –  Pulling it all together and next steps

Listen to the story of NPP here – why was it developed and how does it help children? 
Pondering pods – NPP, the Family Futures therapy model  

Jay Vaughan MBE, co-founder of NPP and your NPP course trainer, explains: 

“It isn’t just how we think and feel about the world that is impacted by trauma, it’s the physiology of the body…The name Neuro Physiological Psychotherapy, for us conveyed the importance of working with the body and brain together to help traumatised children.”  

Download our recent Gender and Sexuality Webinar here

Our Gender and Sexuality webinar is now available to download here Gender and Sexuality Webinar – for parents and carers (free webinar). Thank you to all who joined us on 16th April to learn more about this important topic which is present in everything we do in life, both implicitly and explicitly. Gender and sexuality is central to family life, to child development, and to wider cultures and society. This webinar gives an overview of the biological, psychological, and social aspects of gender and sexuality, focussing on (but not exclusively) those outside the cisgendered heteronormative frameworks.

Training or webinar queries?

To discuss any queries or book a live webinar or training for your organisation, contact Tamsyn, or have a look at our information leaflet here.

Conference videos available – hear lived experience of contact from our #FFConference23

“It’s important to try and put the child’s trauma hat on” – Cassie.

Hear a range of lived experience and perspectives on contact and maintaining relationships, from adopted, fostered and kinship care children and families. You can order here the full keynote speech (Cassie and Dee) and workshops as standalone videos. Keep as a resource to support you as a parent/carer, or as a training resource for professionals. You can also view the programme of the day, see more information about speakers and order your copies.

This video is a clip from the keynote speech by Cassie and her adoptive mother, Dee, reflecting on their experiences of contact with Cassie’s birth mother – what helped, what didn’t help, and how to focus on the wellbeing of the child when contact arrangements are being planned.

Posted 10 January 2024

Have you booked your ticket yet? Join us for Contact in Context – our 2023 conference

“I think it’s important to hear personal experiences” – Cassie, keynote speaker and adopted person.

Join a lively day of discussion about how we can best support contact with birth relatives for children in adoption, fostering and kinship care. View our conference programme here or see a preview video of the virtual venue here. 

The conference will enable you to:

• feel confident to navigate through the benefits and challenges contact presents
• understand the purpose of contact and its significance in shaping a child’s sense of safety, their attachments and identity
• increase your knowledge of how to support and improve meaningful contact arrangements at each stage of a child’s development –  integrating different aspects of a child/young person’s identity
• understand the experiences of all parties and the frameworks that support this vital aspect of care.

Attend from anywhere, network with other parents or professionals, watch on demand for 90 days and gain 7 hours of CPD!

Free webinar – Introduction to Sensory Integration and how to get an assessment

Thank you to all the parents and carers who attended our Sensory Integration webinar. If you’d like to discuss your child’s needs with one of our therapists or get a Sensory Integration assessment at our Wellbeing Hub, book your free consultation here. A free recording of the webinar is available to download here.

Sensory processing difficulties are becoming increasingly common and impact on children’s daily lives in many ways, sometimes acting as a barrier to learning or the flow of daily life.

In the webinar, Emily, one of our Occupational Therapists at Family Futures, explained sensory processing and how this relates to carrying out daily tasks, academic learning, a child’s stress response and a child’s ability to self-regulate.

It is common for people with neurodevelopmental conditions to have sensory processing difficulties. Sensory integration assessment and therapy can support children to develop their ability to be in the ‘just right state’ and support development of their motor skills and functioning in everyday living.

Find out more about Sensory Integration assessment and therapy for children and young people at our Wellbeing Hub here.

New webinars in February and March 2023

The Value of Storytelling: using stories to facilitate attachment and healing
Free webinar for parents and carers, 7 February, 11am-1pm 

Family Futures is inviting adoptive parents, foster carers, special guardians and kinship carers to join this free webinar to find out about storytelling techniques to use with your children in order to create their own stories, which can help improve relationships, address challenging behaviour and make sense of traumatic experiences. Book your place and discover more here

Sensory Integration for Professionals, 20 March, 11am-1pm

Did you know early life trauma can disrupt development of the sensory systems – showing up as, for instance, sensitivity to ordinary sounds and touch? Join our Sensory Integration webinar to understand more about the needs of children you work with. Book your place and discover more here

New webinar – The value of playing with your child

Join us on 1 December at 11am for our next free webinar for parents and carers. Sarah, an arts psychotherapist at Family Futures, will give tips and activities to support children express themselves and feel regulated within their play. For fostered, adopted and kinship care children, early years are likely to have been marked with chaos and neglect, leaving little space to play freely. Play encourages reciprocal relationships and offers a ‘way in’ to support repair with secure care givers. Register here to receive a link to the webinar

Sensory summer activities and Sensory Integration Webinar

Our Occupational Therapy team have put together some sensory summer activity ideas for you to try over the holidays.

Do you have questions about your child’s sensory development? Why not join our Sensory Integration webinar on 1 September, where Mandy will be answering questions from parents/carers and suggesting practical strategies to help children regulate their sensory systems.

For many adoptive, SGO and foster families, the stresses of living through lockdown and anxieties about the transition back to school have brought their child’s sensory issues to the fore, particularly for children whose sensory development has been impaired by early life trauma. Parents and carers participating in the webinar will have the opportunity to try activities that engage the senses and help support regulation. 

Return to school webinars for parents, carers and professionals

We still have spaces on our Dan Hughes ‘return to school’ webinars and our new Sensory Integration webinar with Mandy.

Dr Dan Hughes will be live online for parents/carers on 25 August, 2-4pm and for professionals on 27 August, 2-4pm. You can learn ideas and tips to help children feel safe as they return to school post-lockdown. How can a PACE approach help with transitions and anxieties? Send in your questions for Dan when you book and find out more here:
Parents & carers webinar
Professionals webinar

On 1 September, Mandy (Occupational Therapist and Advanced Sensory Integration Practitioner) will be holding a live online webinar to explain sensory modulation and how this links to our stress response and ability to self regulate. For many adoptive, SGO and foster families, the stresses of living through lockdown have brought their child’s sensory issues to the fore, particularly for children whose sensory development has been impaired by early life trauma. Mandy will offer tips, support and answer your questions in this Sensory Integration Webinar with Mandy.