Before the intervention
For some of our most vulnerable children and young people, trust, connection and vulnerability can feel unsafe. That means engaging in support can be difficult before the work has even begun. Turning up, talking, reflecting, accepting help, trusting an adult, or trying something new may all come with barriers.
So the foundations matter. Safety, predictability, patience and connection come first. Progress may be slow, inconsistent or difficult to see, and every day may look different.
Before we can expect a young person to engage in an intervention, we have to make the intervention accessible to them - creating enough safety and trust for them to take the risk of letting us in.
Being invited into a young person’s vulnerability comes with responsibility.
And when that moment of vulnerability has passed, young people need to regain control - choosing what they share, with whom, and when they are ready to be vulnerable again. There is no neat end point. Trauma, mental health and emotional wellbeing are live and changing. The same intervention can create very different outcomes at different times. Our role is to build safety, awareness and skill, while keeping control with the young person and their future open.
Being invited into a young person’s vulnerability comes with responsibility.
We still need to risk assess, safeguard and respond to what we learn, while protecting dignity, trust, privacy and choice. We need to notice progress, strengthen self-belief and help restore trust in adults, relationships and themselves.
And when that moment of vulnerability has passed, young people need to regain control - choosing what they share, with whom, and when they are ready to be vulnerable again. There is no neat end point. Trauma, mental health and emotional wellbeing are live and changing. The same intervention can create very different outcomes at different times. Our role is to build safety, awareness and skill, while keeping control with the young person and their future open.
After intervening
Being invited into a young person’s vulnerability comes with responsibility.
We still need to risk assess, safeguard and respond to what we learn, while protecting dignity, trust, privacy and choice. We need to notice progress, strengthen self-belief and help restore trust in adults, relationships and themselves.
And when that moment of vulnerability has passed, young people need to regain control - choosing what they share, with whom, and when they are ready to be vulnerable again. There is no neat end point. Trauma, mental health and emotional wellbeing are live and changing. The same intervention can create very different outcomes at different times. Our role is to build safety, awareness and skill, while keeping control with the young person and their future open.
Social stories
Social stories offer a safe way to recognise what might be happening through someone else’s story, which helps young people connect, learn and talk while keeping privacy, choice and control.
Leo’s Different Map helps children explore the complicated feelings that can come with separation, rejection and blended families, including belonging, difference, self-worth, and watching family relationships change around them.
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Leo’s Different Map is an age-appropriate story for primary-aged children exploring separation, rejection, blended families, belonging, and self-worth. Supporting activities can include creating family maps, emotion clouds and gentle opportunities for questions and conversation always with privacy, safety and choice at the centre.
Sam’s Missing Heart is an age-appropriate story for primary-aged children exploring bereavement, grief and the need for control that can sometimes follow loss. It helps children understand anger, obsessive thoughts, grieving rituals, and different beliefs about death, while offering practical ways to process loss, hold onto memories, and begin to accept what has changed.
Jay’s Busy Brain is an age-appropriate story for primary-aged children exploring stuck or “itchy” thoughts, overthinking, difficulty focusing, and frustration. It helps children understand how these experiences can lead to anger, isolation, and low self-esteem, while offering gentle ways to notice thoughts, talk about what is happening, and find strategies that help their brain feel calmer and more manageable.
Building skills
Replacement skills help young people access expectations by teaching a safer, more effective way to respond when things get hard.
Replacement skills are the safer, more effective responses we teach when a learner does not yet have access to the behaviour we are asking for. The key is to move consequences forward, using follow-up time to understand the barrier, teach and rehearse what to do instead, repair where needed, and create a clear route back to learning. Done well, consequences become emotionally safe and educational, helping young people build the skills, confidence and independence to meet expectations next time.