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
New admissions and physical intervention: a child's first days in a children's home
<p>The first night of a placement is when a child is most frightened and staff know least about them. Planning for it prevents more holds than any technique, and protects the relationship before it has begun.</p>
28 October 2026
Physical intervention in vehicles: keeping journeys safe in children's homes
<p>A child unclips their seat belt on the motorway and the nearest junction is miles away. A car is one of the worst places to hold anyone, so the safest journeys are the ones planned so a hold is never needed. Here is how children's homes can get there.</p>
21 October 2026
Stopping a child going missing: when physical intervention is lawful in children's homes
<p>A child is at the door, coat on, and staff know who is waiting outside. Can they physically stop her? The law is narrower than many teams think, and the answer that keeps children safest starts long before the front door in children's homes.</p>
14 October 2026