Passionate about improving learning, mental health and quality of life for children and young people

TRAUMA INFORMED SCHOOLS UK (TISUK): KEY CREDENTIALS

Key Credentials

• TISUK is a registered community interest company (social work) working in association with the Centre for Child Mental Health: President Sir Richard Bowlby.
• Over 3500 schools, colleges, early years settings and community settings, have received training from TISUK including: Whole school training, Senior Leads Training, Diploma (Trauma Informed Practitioner training), e-learning e.g. Supporting the Return to School, Working with Trauma in Early Years Settings, Whole school Cultural Shift to a Trauma Informed Culture,  Working with Vulnerable Teenagers in Schools
• TISUK has delivered return to school training in the Covid 19 crisis to over 20,000 staff in school and community organisations across the UK and Ireland, including members of the National Education Union.
• TISUK has a University of East London validated course entitled Certificate in Trauma and Mental Health Informed Schools and Communities (Level 5) and Diploma course entitled Trauma and Mental Health in Schools and Communities (Practitioner status).
• Sheffield Hallam University includes a compulsory module of TISUK’s training in every level and age phase of their initial teaching education. (Over 1000 trainee teachers have received the training). Professor Mark Boylan (Sheffield Hallam University) is presently working in partnership with TISUK to standardise and publish their key assessment tools.
• TISUK has delivered webinars on trauma informed theory and practice to 200 schools, colleges and early years settings for Lambeth Council.
• TISUK has delivered webinar training on Trauma in the Early years: Prevention and Intervention, to over 1500 Early years settings across South Yorkshire and 100 in Lambeth.
• TISUK’s trainings are run by experts in both child psychology and in education. All the practical evidencebased interventions are informed by over 1000 peer reviewed research studies from medicine, psychology, neuroscience, education and forensic psychiatry.
• TISUK has an extensive group of eminent consultants and advisors. Several of these have lived experience, and provide expert advice on how schools and communities can work to prevent gang membership, violence, homelessness, prostitution, drug and alcohol addiction.
• TISUK’s training is highlighted in the DfE Advice to Schools: Mental Health and Behaviour in Schools DfE-00327-2018 as supporting and promoting positive mental health.
• TISUK trainings are informed by and adapted from the key components of whole school cultural change as set out by the Evidence-Based Practice Unit, Manchester University/ Anna Freud Centre, (Demkowicz and Humphreys 2019). These components comprise of mental health approaches to teaching and learning; pupil/ student voice; staff and senior lead development; health and wellbeing; online assessment tool to ascertain mental health needs and provide a measurable evidence-base of impact; training key members of staff to support vulnerable children through therapeutic conversations; working with parents to support mentally healthy cultures at home.
• As a result of our trainings, which were created in reponse to the major cutbacks in CAMHS, we have been thrilled to see so many schools willingly pick up the mental health baton, resulting in fewer exclusions, a reduction in staff stress-related illness and an increase in pupil attendance, attainment and in staff retention. We therefore fully endorse the 2017 Government Green Paper on Children’s Mental Health Provision in stating that, ‘There is evidence that appropriately trained and supported staff... teachers… teaching assistants can achieve results comparable to those achieved by trained therapists in delivering a number of interventions addressing mild to moderate mental health problems.’ That said, our trained staff recognise limits of competence and know when to refer on and to whom.
• TISUK has an awards scheme for those schools who wish to be formally assessed for mentally healthy and trauma informed school status.
• For the equivalent of just one Pupil Premium Plus grant, TISUK can provide a menu of training options (e.g. Whole school/Senior Leads training/Practitioner Diploma) to support a whole school understanding of mental health informed practices, all designed to benefit everyone in your school (staff and pupils), and directly attributable to the PP+ allocation/spend. Interventions are all practically based, time preserving and cost effective.