Training

Training services

To create lasting change, we need to ensure all young people are cared for by adults who are trauma-informed, and systems that are responsive to their social and emotional needs. As part of this, we work with parents/carers, professionals and volunteers to ensure that they are well equipped, so that young people can receive the support they need.

How we make a difference

A Parent Champion story

What do our trainees think?

"Informative, educational, engaging and practical. It was fantastic. Thank you!"

Parent Champion programme

Our Parent Champion programme aims to equip and empower parents when it comes to supporting their young people around behaviour management while also providing help to those who require social, emotional and mental support regarding parenting. The project is comprised of three strands:

A parent support programme where parents with lived experience are trained and supported to be Parent Champions who will then provide support and training to other parents on how to navigate the education system, school exclusions and how to advocate for their children.
A father’s programme where our trained Champions provide community-based support and training specifically for fathers to ensure they too have the support and information required to navigate educational systems.
There is also a Parent Champions forum where Champions work alongside schools and the local authority to feedback themes from the parent support programmes to challenge and influence practice.

AQA Accredited courses and modules

We offer high level AQA Accredited Wholistic Mentoring training to professionals and volunteers who wish to help our young people in the community and are interested in making a direct impact on their lives.

Through this training our aim is to effectively assess young people's decision making processes and help identify patterns of negative behaviour, in an effort to endorse the ethos of Spark2Life and positively impact young people’s lives. In turn these personal changes will contribute to the reduction of serious youth crime.

Trauma Awareness Training

Spark2Life deliver Trauma Awareness training sessions and webinars for professionals and for parents, business owners, faith leaders and adult members of the community who want to improve their relationships and interactions with young people. By raising awareness of how trauma and different life experiences affect behaviour we increase our capacity to empathise with others, equipping ourselves to have better relationships.

Aims/ Objectives of the Trauma Awareness Training:
- Introduction to the concept of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
- Examine Trauma Aware Practice
- Explore triggers that can result in challenging behaviours
- Offer a framework that enables collaboration with children and young people
- To promote relational interactions and kindness
Our Trauma Awareness Training can be delivered as either a half day or full day of training.

Lives touched

A Parent Champion story

Sinead was invited to our Parent Champion Launch event. Sinead was moved to tears by the event. We then paired her up with a Parent Champion, Doreen. During the first 1:1 session Sinead expressed overwhelming feelings of guilt for her son’s current behaviour – as he witnessed DV and controlling behaviour from his father and because she felt that she didn’t push for him to get support with his autism when he was younger.

Sinead shared that she suffers with low self-esteem and often feels isolated. Sinead expressed her concerns about her son’s autism and how it could make him vulnerable. She even wrote to her local MP stating that she felt her son was being groomed. Sinead’s Parent Champion offered various strategies to support Sinead with parenting.

Sinead said that after the first session she went back home and put strategies in place straight away. Sinead noted that even her own mother was in support of the strategies that were suggested.

School had rung Sinead just before her second meeting and informed her that her son had not attended. Where before she would usually panic and be anxious, she remained calm and was not worried. Doreen suggested that when he returns home, instead of having a go at him, give him the opportunity to explain himself to build trust.

When Doreen met with Sinead for a third session Sinead was in good spirits as she had met with an old school friend. Sinead said that because of her Parent Champion 1:1 session, she was learning to forgive/not hold grudges against the father of her child.

Sinead shared that it was her son’s birthday and Dad was on the phone, on the verge of an argument, Sinead diffused the argument which is something that she wouldn’t have been able to do previously. This week her son was out even later than usual, Sinead was losing sleep as a result of this and would get in her car and go out looking for him – following the strategies that she was given at a previous session, now when she finds him, he doesn’t argue and just gets in the car. He is much less argumentative even once he gets home because she has changed her approach.

Interested in one of our training programmes?

If you would like to find out more about our Training programmes please fill in the form below

If your organisation is within a borough where the Ubuntu project is running, you may be able to access the training for free - enquire for more info!