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.
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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
Physical intervention complaints and advocacy in children's homes: making children's voices heard
<p>How children's homes can make complaints, representations and independent advocacy meaningful before and after physical intervention, with practical steps for managers and staff.</p>
2 September 2026
Physical intervention risk assessments in children's homes: a practical guide
<p>How to build a child-centred physical intervention risk assessment for a children's home, with practical steps for prevention, emergency thresholds, staff roles and review.</p>
26 August 2026
Transition planning after physical intervention in children's homes: a safer next-step guide
<p>A practical guide to transition planning after physical intervention in children's homes, covering immediate recovery, child-centred debriefing, handovers, family contact, education and restraint reduction.</p>
19 August 2026