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"Are Your Residential Care Teams Still Struggling with Children's Behaviour?"
Yet the challenges persist:
The challenge isn’t your commitment, it’s that traditional models were designed for behaviour management rather than behaviour understanding.
We’ve worked with hundreds of passionate, skilled care teams who were implementing traditional behaviour management approaches perfectly – and still struggling.
It’s not that these approaches are wrong. They’re simply incomplete.
Most behaviour management training begins at the point of crisis, equipping teams with strategies for when a child is already dysregulated. But by then, a crucial opportunity has already been missed.
Even the most widely used training programmes often:
We see the dedication you bring to this challenging work. And we believe your team deserves approaches that match their commitment with equally powerful tools.
For years, behaviour management training has followed models developed before we fully understood the impact of attachment, trauma, and neurodevelopment on children’s behaviour.
Many respected organisations still use methods designed decades ago – because that was the best information available at the time.
Your team has been doing their best with the tools they’ve been given. Now, there’s an opportunity to equip them with approaches that align with our deeper understanding of children’s stress responses and emotional needs.
| Where Traditional Models Focus | Where Today's Research Points Us |
|---|---|
| Responding to dysregulation after it occurs | Creating the conditions where regulation can develop |
| Training focused on compliance and control | Building cultures of psychological safety and trust |
| Isolated intervention techniques | System-wide approaches that support both children and staff |
The world has evolved. The research has evolved. And now your training can evolve too – without dismissing the valuable skills your team has already developed.
Our 8-Day Train-the-Trainer Foundation Course bridges this gap, building on what your team already knows while adding the crucial elements that create transformative change.
At ProActive Approaches, we’ve spent over 25 years helping residential organisations and schools move beyond traditional behaviour management to something more effective and sustainable.
Our 8-Day Train-the-Trainer Foundation Course builds on what your team already knows while adding the crucial elements that create transformative change.
We recognise what you’ve likely already observed: behaviour is communication, often expressing unmet attachment needs, fear responses, and past trauma. Children who have experienced disruption in their early relationships aren’t “choosing” challenging behaviours – they’re expressing distress in the only way they currently know how.
Where traditional approaches often miss three critical elements, our approach integrates them fully:
📌 The child’s lived experience: Understanding how past trauma and disrupted attachments shape current responses and needs
📌 The impact of shame and survival responses: Recognising how control-based techniques can unintentionally reinforce patterns that escalate distress
📌 The foundation of relational safety: Building the trust and connection that makes genuine co-regulation possible, creating the foundation for lasting change
The 8-Day Train-the-Trainer Foundation Course works differently from standard training:
You send team members to us – we transform them into your own in-house training experts who then return to your organisation equipped to cascade this knowledge to everyone else.
When your selected staff complete our comprehensive programme, your organisation gains:
This isn’t about replacing what you’ve built – it’s about empowering people within your team to enhance it with research-backed approaches that address the missing pieces in traditional behaviour management training.
Your investment in a few key people creates ripples of positive change throughout your entire organisation, supporting both the children in your care and the dedicated teams who serve them.
A Day in the Life: The Transformation in Action
Before: Staff walk in already worried about which young people might “kick off” today, the handover is all about who caused problems yesterday and what punishments are happening. Everyone’s tense, just waiting for something to go wrong.
After: Your team comes in feeling ready for the day. The handover still covers any issues, but also talks about what each child might be feeling and needing today. Staff chat about how to help each young person through tricky moments. There’s a calm confidence instead of that knot-in-stomach feeling.
Before: Jamie doesn’t want to join the group activity. A staff member tells him he has to “just like everyone else,” things get heated, and before you know it, Jamie’s having a meltdown that needs physical restraint. The whole episode wastes 45 minutes, creates a mountain of paperwork, and leaves staff feeling defeated.
After: When Jamie shows he doesn’t want to join in, a staff member spots the early warning signs that he’s getting overwhelmed. They take a moment to connect with him, let him know they understand he’s finding it tough, and help him calm down before suggesting different ways he could be involved. The whole situation is sorted within minutes, and everyone keeps their dignity.
Before: A Discussion between two colleagues turns into a complaint session about the young people; they vent about how “these young people just don’t want to behave” and swap war stories. Everyone goes back to work feeling even more frustrated than before.
After: A catch-up with a colleague becomes a chance to recharge and quickly share what’s working well, they point out positive patterns they’ve noticed and bounce ideas off each other. They return to work feeling refreshed and reminded of why they do this job.
Before: Meetings are mostly about rules, paperwork, and going through incident reports. Most of the talk is about what the young people “should be doing” and why they’re not doing it.
After: Meetings still cover the practical stuff but also make time to discuss the young people’s development. The team shares moments where they saw progress, celebrates small wins, and works together on approaches that address what the young people actually need rather than just trying to stop behaviours.
Before: Staff leave completely drained, mentally tallying up today’s incidents and dreading coming back tomorrow. The only measure of a “good day” is if nothing major ‘kicked off’.
After: The Team heads home tired but satisfied. They remember the meaningful moments, a breakthrough conversation, a child who managed their emotions better than yesterday, a connection that felt genuine. There’s a real sense that they’re making a difference, which makes coming back tomorrow feel worthwhile.
Most organisations don’t realise that the cost of traditional approaches is already embedded in their financial statements:
For Your Young People:
For Your Staff:
For Your Organisation:
“Three months in, I realised we were having entire weeks without serious incidents. But more importantly, our team meetings had completely transformed – instead of just reviewing problems, staff were excitedly sharing developmental breakthroughs.” – Residential Home Manager
“The difference in our Ofsted inspection was remarkable. Instead of focusing on our incident reduction (which was impressive enough), the inspector highlighted how our team could clearly articulate the developmental needs underlying behaviours and demonstrate their approach to meeting those needs.” – Care Home Director
“My biggest surprise was the financial impact. We calculated that the reduction in staff turnover alone saved us over £45,000 in the first year, not counting reduced agency costs and absence rates. This approach doesn’t just work better; it costs less in the long run.” – Operations Director
“I used to dread stepping into the house because you could feel the tension. Now there’s this sense of purposeful calm. Young people still have difficult moments, that’s part of their journey, but the whole atmosphere has shifted from containment to development.” – Deputy Manager
Our approach has delivered measurable outcomes across diverse residential settings:
These aren’t idealised scenarios, they’re real transformations happening in residential settings across the UK that have implemented ProActive Approaches. The shift from behaviour management to developmental understanding creates ripples that transform every aspect of care.
Your organisation can experience this transformation. Your teams deserve the tools to make it possible. And most importantly, the young people in your care need the developmental support that only regulated, skilled, supported staff can provide.
Transform your team. Transform your organisation. Transform lives.
This course will equip your teams to understand the laws surrounding restrictive practices, and understand the need for balance between Restraint Reduction and Duty of Care.
Cut out the middleman and stop the continuous outsourcing of staff training.
Upon completion of our ‘Train The Trainer’ programme, your trainers will then be fully certified to teach our BILD ACT (RRN) Certified 2, 3, 4-day courses within your organisation for a full 12 months.
They can teach an unlimited number of teams, which makes this an ideal money-saving solution if you are a large organisation or have high staff turnover rates.
The 2, 3 and 4-day courses your trainers will be qualified to teach are now fully ‘mapped’ to the Level 3 Diploma in Childcare Award.
Our course content creates evidence against 19 of the 21 units for both the City & Guilds & RCC, with 9 of the 19 units having significant levels of evidence produced.
Your teams will gain access to our online Academy Portal (The ProActive Academy), where they can download all of their worksheets, create evidence, learn how to create reflective statements, and more…
N.B. There is no additional cost for Academy access.
No. To ensure you gain the most out of this experience, we provide all of our training in person.
We offer two options for your convenience:
The course spans 8 days, running from 9:00 am to 4:45 pm daily. Each day includes mid-morning & mid-afternoon breaks as well as a lunch break.
Lunch and refreshments are provided.
We recommend a minimum of 2 participants to become In-House Trainers. For quality assurance purposes, In-House Trainers should train in pairs whilst delivering courses.
We understand smaller organisations may face resource constraints, and we can provide additional support as needed.
Yes, all staff members who pass the course will be issued with a certificate as part of the course fee. Certificates are valid for 12 months.
To see an example of our online certificates, CLICK HERE
As many as you need.
The only parameter is that you stay within the ratios for BILD Act (RRN) Certification. One trainer can train a cohort of twelve people, and two trainers can train a cohort of 18 people.
Absolutely not.
We do not charge extra to certificate for the courses that your trainers will run in-house. The course fee entitles you to train (and certificate) as many staff in your
organisation per year as you require (within the allowed trainer-to-delegate ratios.)
Click the ‘Download Info Pack’ button below to instantly receive our comprehensive PDF Info Pack, detailing course specifics and costs.
Yes. Our unique combined approach to education and application draws heavily on contemporary research, PBS (Positive Behaviour Support) principles, and direct practice experience.
As such, all +Proactive Approaches courses will allow you to meet Ofsted’s expectations with complete confidence.
Absolutely! You can speak to a member of our experienced and friendly team at no cost to determine whether our program is right for you.
Simply click the link below to book your call or download our info pack for more information.
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