In this conversation, Sarah Naish discusses the challenges faced by children with trauma in educational settings with Gareth K. Thomas. They examine the limitations of current school policies, the significance of trauma-informed approaches, and the necessity for collaboration between parents and schools. The discussion emphasises the necessity of understanding children’s behaviours as responses to trauma and the importance of creating supportive environments for their development. Part of the TR...
Jul 16, 2025•32 min•Season 1Ep. 1
In this third and final episode from our Conference Special, podcast host Serena Gay talks to childhood abuse survivor Rosie Jefferies about breaking the circle of abuse to become a good parent. Rosie is also the Managing Director of the National Association of Therapeutic Parenting (NATP) and spoke most movingly at the conference with colleague Sarah Dillon about their personal surivival stories during the National Conference day in Solihull. A key element to success not just for abuse survivor...
Dec 15, 2021•19 min•Season 3Ep. 3
The Centre of Excellence in Child Trauma's November 2021 conference focused on a huge variety of issues that challenge parents and social workers nationwide. Everyone had a chance to explore solutions for their own personal difficulties and challenges and in this episode, we focus on the schools discussions and on the dilemmas faced by Kinship Carers and Special Guardians. In this edition, Serena Gay talks to Daniel Thrower, CEO of the Wensum Trust and to Sair Penna , Director of Wickselm House....
Dec 08, 2021•22 min•Season 3Ep. 2
The Centre of Excellence in Child Trauma's November 2021 conference attracted parents and professionals from around the country. It was an emotional day. Well, it would be wouldn't it because so much to do with fostering and adopting children from trauma involves raw emotion. Billed as "your roadmap of strategies through to sanity", reflected the difficulties that come with parenting traumatised children as well as the need for self-care to build the resilience required to keep going. In this ed...
Dec 01, 2021•23 min•Season 3Ep. 1
In this last episode of Series 2, expert Sarah Dillon explains how and why trauma has such a profound and negative effect on the relationship children have with food. Their behaviours with it might include: hoarding stealing hiding eating all the time refusing food only eating certain types of food gorging on sugar or sugar products All of these have a perfectly good explanation which reflect the upsetting experiences of a child's early years. Not only are all these behaviours typical of a child...
Jul 26, 2021•19 min•Season 2Ep. 12
When small children display signs of sexualised behaviour, foster and adoptive parents find it repugnant. As NATP expert Jane Mitchell explains, they are rightly furious with those responsible for the abuse their child must have suffered in an earlier existence. In this episode, Jane sets out an array of simple but effective strategies that help to reset a child's understanding of what is appropriate behaviour between children and adults. But she advises learning to differentiate between what is...
Jul 19, 2021•19 min•Season 2Ep. 11
In this episode, Sarah Dillon tells us why traumatized children run away or abscond from loving and caring foster and adoptive families. She understands this problem in depth both as a professional and because she was once a runner herself. Sarah tells us children run away for fear-based reasons which do not reflect badly on their foster or adoptive parents. They may not seriously intend staying away but it is likely that they are trying to make sense of unprocessed trauma. Her advice is not to ...
Jul 12, 2021•21 min•Season 2Ep. 10
A child in a state of dissociation can be a strange and disturbing thing to witness. In this week's edition, Jessica Jackson - whose own small son has a tendency to dissociate - talks us through why this happens and above all, what to do when it does. Dissociating can best be described as mentally leaving the room. If you are parenting a traumatized child you may be aware that they seem to go into a trance and be completely unaware of what is happening around them. This could well be a repeat of...
Jul 05, 2021•16 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Your first reaction to the sight of your child smeared in its own poo could well be shock and revulsion. But understanding why they do strange things with their faeces or when they urinate on the carpet is key to finding a solution. You might be surprised to learn that this is one of the issues most asked-about on our Facebook page. This episode's guest, Sarah Dillon, the COECT's Therapeutic Lead, has helped many parents and children overcome wee and poo issues using therapeutic parenting-inspir...
Jun 28, 2021•25 min•Season 2Ep. 8
Little else could be more destructive to a family unit than a child who is violent and aggressive towards their adoptive or foster parents. In this week's episode, our expert guest, Jane Mitchell, tells us that children can show superhuman strength when their fears are adrenaline-fuelled. The result can be harm to the parents and costly damage to the family home. As Jane explains, this behaviour is a symptom of the child's sense of overwhelm triggered by traumatic memories. They're not conscious...
Jun 21, 2021•33 min•Season 2Ep. 7
This week COECT's CEO Sarah Naish talks from personal experience about the strain placed on a relationship when a couple adopts or fosters traumatized children. Parents can quickly experience isolation within the relationship itself. This is especially the case if one becomes the main carer and the other is not around enough to witness the difficulties that arise. About 1 in 3 relationships fail in such families unless help is sought. As Sarah says, raising traumatized children can test relation...
Jun 14, 2021•21 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Remember the child in your school class who was the fidgety one? Or the one who always had their hand up but was ignored by the teacher because they made apparently stupid remarks? Or the one that seemed to know exactly what was going on everywhere else but was paying no attention at all to the lesson? You wouldn’t have known it at the time, but this could have been a sign of a traumatized child experiencing extreme stress. Making the transition from home to school or from Key Stage 1 to Key Sta...
Jun 07, 2021•27 min•Season 2Ep. 5
If your child is from a traumatized background you may be asking yourself why they are seem so super sensitive to everything. Why are they so watchful and guarded? What are they afraid of? Why do they seem to focus on matters of peripheral importance when they should be concentrating on their lessons or simply on going to sleep? Why can't they just relax? Our expert guest this week, Glynis Hough, makes a welcome return to explain what is happening in a child's mind to make it hypervigilant and t...
May 31, 2021•23 min•Season 2Ep. 4
It is often really difficult for the professionals involved to know if a group of traumatized siblings should be kept together or separated once they've been removed from their birth families. There are so many factors to weigh in the balance such as: Do the siblings depend on each other and have they formed an unbreakable bond? Or is there intense rivalry and jealousy between them? Have the boys been encouraged to think they are more important than the girls? Will learned patterns of behaviour ...
May 24, 2021•29 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Raising a traumatised child to adulthood is fraught with challenges. But if you get Jane Mitchell's Super Strategies in place from the very start, you'll find them a great support. They form a template that help you face up all the problems that come your way in a consistent, predictable and reliable way that ultimately help your child feel safe. Above all they help your child to learn that they matter to you. We're talking about Super Strategies such as: Pausing Being Playful Showing Acceptance...
May 17, 2021•30 min
In the first edition of Series 2, you'll hear plenty of therapeutic parenting strategies for coping with the inevitable loneliness and isolation experienced by the parents of traumatised children. COECT's CEO Sarah Naish talks about her own challenging experience bringing up five siblings from a traumatised background on her own after the break-up of her marriage. She tells us how other mums distanced themselves from her family because of her adopted children's difficult behaviour. Sarah became ...
May 07, 2021•22 min•Season 2Ep. 1
As a trailblazer in the field of therapeutic parenting, COECT founder Sarah Naish has made a profound difference to the lives of many struggling foster and adoptive parents. She also runs fostering agencies in England and Wales where her effective strategies are applied. The agencies empower families to make a success of fostering even when things appear to be at their most difficult. This week Sarah tells us what defines a therapeutic fostering agency and how her own ones provide wraparound sup...
Feb 23, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 11
The damage inflicted on a child as a result of domestic violence - be it physical or emotional - can have a catastrophic effect on their young lives. In this episode, Rachel Cawthorn, helps us to understand why this is the case and what physiological changes take place in a child as a result of this abuse. Rachel is a social work student and was a senior practitioner in substance misuse for 15 years. She also experienced domestic violence as a child and, as a result, entered into two toxic relat...
Feb 16, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 10
"Bazza" is a professional social worker with in-depth experience of working in the family courts protecting the rights - and the futures - of children. For good professional reasons, she has to remain anonymous. But on this podcast edition she provides us with an invaluable insight into how the family courts arrive at their decisions. Decisions which make fundamental differences to people's lives and most especially, to traumatized children's lives. "Bazza" explains about the research, the soul-...
Feb 09, 2021•27 min•Season 1Ep. 9
Our first male guest of this series joins us on this podcast edition to talk about a father’s experience of therapeutic parenting. Kinship Carer, Iain Fogg and his wife have cared for the daughter he refers to on the podcast as “kiddo” ( not her real name ), for the last two years. We learn about the so-called honeymoon period and its aftermath, secondary trauma and compassion fatigue. Iain also discusses the grief he underwent for the loss of the idealized vision he imagined life as a foster fa...
Feb 02, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 8
In this episode, Jessica Jackson , an academic and practicing social worker as well as the adopter of two sibling boys joins us to advise on how to help a traumatized child go to sleep. Wherever childhood trauma occurs, sleep will be impacted. Nightime might well be associated with bad memories and it is well known that traumatized children are more susceptible to nightmares and night terrors. Jessica knows what she talking about from a professional and personal point of view. Here she advises u...
Jan 26, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 7
Today's guest, Rosie Jefferies, the Managing Director of COECT, talks frankly about the fears and emotions she experienced as a small child at the start of her adoption journey. Rosie's profound early life trauma meant she was understandably distrustful of all adults. Indeed she viewed them as dangerous to herself and to her four younger siblings. In this podcast she gives a moving description of the fearful emotions she felt on moving in with her adoption family for the first time. She contrast...
Jan 19, 2021•23 min•Season 1Ep. 6
Today's guest, Sarah Dillon, spent much of her childhood in care. Now a child and adult therapist, she is an internationally-recognised expert with experience on both sides of the therapeutic parenting fence. In this episode, she speaks to parents who all too often feel judged when their traumatised child displays regressive behaviours in public - such as screaming tantrums in the supermarket or shoplifting. As she says, it's one thing dealing with small children in such cases, quite another wit...
Jan 12, 2021•26 min•Season 1Ep. 5
First meetings and moving your adoptive child in to join your family can be among the most important in helping a child, especially a traumatised one, settle well. COECT expert Jane Mitchell knows from personal experience about the pitfalls and gives clear and essential advice in this podcast on how to handle both these important occasions. Her words of wisdom centre around understanding what is going through the mind of the child based on their previous experiences - which might have taught the...
Jan 05, 2021•29 min•Season 1Ep. 4
You may be puzzling over why your traumatised child's behaviour around birthdays and festivities becomes even more challenging and difficult than normal. Our expert guest on the podcast this week, Glynis Hough, is a Foster Parent with decades of experience, a parent of multicultural children, a former social worker and a parent coach. She’s been been involved with the National Association of Therapeutic Parenting (NATP) since its inception. Glynis explains in detail why your traumatised child's ...
Dec 29, 2020•27 min•Season 1Ep. 3
Developmental Trauma Disorder is a little known phrase that is only now beginning to gain traction with health authorities. Why is it important? As this week's guest, Sarah Naish , explains - it is the right term to describe the behavioural characteristics displayed by children due to neglect and trauma or by those who experienced serious pre-birth problems. All too often, their symptoms are diagnosed as post traumatic stress disorder complex. But this is not the correct diagnosis and can lead t...
Dec 22, 2020•24 min•Season 1Ep. 2
The Therapeutic Parenting Podcast welcomes parents, children and supporting professionals to this first edition. Meet Sarah Naish , CEO and Founder of the Centre of Excellence in Child Trauma and the author of best selling books on Therapeutic Parenting. She and her team have built up an impressive array of services to help those whose lives are being torn apart by the consequences of early life trauma and neglect. You can find out where to go for immediate help and advice here on the podcast or...
Dec 14, 2020•13 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Welcome to the Therapeutic Parenting podcast brought to you by the UK based Centre of Excellence in Child Trauma. This weekly podcast is intended to support people whose lives are being torn apart by the consequences of early life trauma and neglect. Are you a deeply concerned adopter or foster parent, birth parent, special guardian or kinship carer? Maybe you are someone who suffered trauma in your early years. Perhaps you’re a supporting professional looking for ways to help traumatized childr...
Dec 01, 2020•2 min•Season 1Ep. 1
