Simon Gower
Founder, +ProActive Approaches | BILD Act (RRN) Certified Trainer & Assessor | Author, The Empathy Gap (2025) & Removing the Barriers to Learning | 30 Years' Experience in Residential Childcare & Special Schools
LinkedInAbout Simon
Simon Gower is the founder of +ProActive Approaches and one of the UK's leading authorities on trauma-informed behaviour support. His work spans residential childcare, schools, adult social care, and healthcare settings.
With nearly 30 years of experience across residential childcare and special schools, Simon has trained thousands of practitioners to reduce restrictive practices. His approach is trauma-informed and grounded in applied neuroscience.
He is also the author of two books: The Empathy Gap (2025), which reframes how residential childcare leaders think about staff wellbeing and outcomes for traumatised young people, and Removing the Barriers to Learning (upcoming), which applies the same framework to England's 757,000 teachers and the 8.7 million children they serve.
Books by Simon
The Empathy Gap
2025
Why even dedicated residential childcare professionals struggle to maintain empathic connection, and the neuroscience-backed framework that changes it.
Visit book site
Removing the Barriers to Learning
Upcoming
Applying the same neuroscientific framework to England's 757,000 teachers and the 8.7 million children whose access to learning depends on the regulatory capacity of the adults around them.
Visit book siteRecent articles by Simon
Police involvement after physical intervention in children's homes
<p>Calling the police after a physical intervention is a serious decision, not an automatic next step. This guide helps managers balance immediate safety, safeguarding, accountability and a child's right to dignity.</p>
16 September 2026
Physical intervention refresher training in children's homes
<p>A refresher day that only rehearses holds is asking the wrong question. Here is how registered managers build annual training around aiming for zero: prevention first, technique kept sharp, and post-incident learning that actually moves the incident count.</p>
9 September 2026
Physical intervention complaints and advocacy in children's homes: making children's voices heard
<p>When a physical intervention has taken place in a children's home, the child should not be left with a choice between staying silent and making a formal...
2 September 2026