Last updated: 22-10-2024. From web page: Further guidance.

Educational Psychology Appendix 2 - Therapeutic Approaches

Example therapeutic approaches delivered by the educational psychologist

Drawing and Talking

Drawing and Talking is a gentle therapeutic approach based on attachment and Jungian theory. In essence, it aims to help a child/young person (CYP) who has experienced trauma to express their emotions, releasing difficult feelings within a safe, contained environment. The intention is for this to support an increase in their sense of wellbeing and subsequent ability to engage in learning.

The CYP is invited to draw whatever they would like, although suggestions can be given to support if they find this difficult. Once the young person has finished drawing, the practitioner begins to ask questions about their picture. For example, ‘Can you tell me a story about your picture?’ and ‘I wonder how the boy is feeling?’ or ‘Does anyone else live in the house?’ The talking remains ‘in’ the picture to maintain a sense of safety for the CYP in being able to express their emotions (so, for example, the practitioner would not ask, ‘Have you ever felt like that?’).

The practitioner keeps each drawing safely in a folder between the sessions and all twelve drawings are given to the CYP to keep at the end of the final session.

Sand tray therapy

Sand tray therapy or sand play therapy is a therapeutic approach used for young people who have experienced trauma. The practitioner provides the young person with a tray filled with sand as well as a variety of miniature toys to create a play world. Toys may include anything from farm animals to unicorns, helicopters, and shells. The young person is asked to choose which toys they’d like to incorporate into the tray and arrange them in any way they want, while the practitioner observes. After the young person has finished creating their play world, the practitioner discusses the scene with them by asking them questions. At the end of each session, the practitioner takes a photograph of the CYP’s play world and prints it out with the CYP. The photo then goes into the CYP’s folder, which the practitioner keeps safe until the following week’s session.

This type of therapy offers young people a safe space to create a world that represents their internal struggles or conflicts. At no point does the practitioner relate the play world to the CYP’s own experiences. This is because the sand tray offers a space for emotional expression, while also reducing the psychological distress that may come from discussing traumatic events and experiences directly.

The Overcoming Programme (Creswell & Willetts, 2019

The Overcoming Programme is an evidence-based guided Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) programme for parents/carers of CYP experiencing anxiety. CBT has a robust evidence base for supporting childhood anxiety and can be effectively delivered with parents/carers, as they are able to learn and teach their child CBT principles and apply them within their everyday lives. The programme is ‘parent/carer-led’, which means that the EP will guide and support the parents/carers in learning about what causes and maintains anxiety, what techniques to use to address this and how to tailor these techniques to their individual child.

Providing this support to parents/carers may also lead to increased parental self-awareness of how they cope with their own feelings of anxiety. In addition, it can be a helpful and validating experience for parents/carers to share their worries and concerns about their child to the EP, who provides emotional support to them and, importantly, a listening ear throughout the sessions.

Therapeutic Approaches delivered by the EP and/or training provided to staff to deliver

Overview

EP staff training will provide an overview of the theory and description of the approach, an opportunity to apply and practice the intervention, as well as support and advice for staff setting up the intervention.

On-going support can also be offered to schools/colleges in terms of screening of CYP for inclusion in particular intervention groups, as well as evaluating the intervention and assessing progress.

The Homunculi Approach (Anne Greig and Tommy MacKay, 2013)

The Homunculi, (or ‘little people’), is a fun intervention that builds social and emotional resilience in children and young people, who often have difficulty identifying troubling feelings such as anger, fear and anxiety.

The Homunculi are miniature agents with problem-solving missions and special gadgets who live inside the brain and help out with distressing thoughts, feelings and behaviours. Through inventing their own Homunculi characters and stories, participants in the activity learn to cope with their real-life social problems. Complete with a large-format skull poster, character and storyboard templates, and photocopiable record sheets, this unique resource includes everything needed to get started on making Homunculi stories, cartoons or videos.

LEGO-based Group Skills

LEGO-Based Group Skills is a collaborative play experience in which children work together within designated roles to build LEGO models to promote development of their social and communication skills.

Key social experiences such as collaboration, joint attention, joint accomplishment, sharing, turn-taking, eye contact, and verbal and nonverbal communication are emphasised and coached.

Research has found that Lego-Based Group Skills is effective in improving social competence in children with Autism and it may also be helpful for children with other social and communication difficulties.

CBT-based intervention

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) based interventions focus on the idea that thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are all interconnected. The negative thoughts and feelings can be seen as ‘unhelpful’, ‘automatic’ or ‘hot’ which lead to negative patterns in behaviour and overall wellbeing.

CBT based interventions teach children to break down these negatives into smaller parts and challenge them. Then coping strategies and realistic thoughts can be practised to raise positive well-being. Some of these are based upon readily available books, including ‘The Red Beast’ and ‘Starving the Anxiety Gremlin’.

Therapeutic Story Writing

Therapeutic Story Writing (TSW) was developed to support pupils whose emotional anxieties are impacting on their learning. TSW enables CYP to work through metaphors within stories. By using metaphors CYP are given the opportunity to explore their internal feelings and to make sense of difficult feelings in a safe and contained way. Different aspects of the child can be explored through story characters.

Either a member of staff can be trained to develop Therapeutic stories or an EP can facilitate a group intervention.

By engaging in the CYP’s sense of self in the process of story writing, it is possible to see improvements in the young person’s emotional literacy and academic literacy. Emotional literacy involves developing awareness around our internal feelings, our feelings towards others and our sense of self (self-esteem).

Therapeutic Storywriting Groups has helped pupils to process difficult feelings, develop social skills and also improved pupils’ engagement with writing.

Emotion Coaching

Emotion Coaching is an evidence-based, universal approach to help staff to support children and young people (CYP) to self-regulate their emotions and behaviour, improving competencies to manage difficult feelings. The training will explore how Emotion Coaching can be used to create an ethos of positive learning behaviour and aid staff confidence to de-escalate situations when behaviour is challenging.

Research at Bath Spa University found that Emotion Coaching helps:
CYP to regulate, improve and take ownership of their behaviour
CYP to calm down and better understand emotions
practitioners to be more sensitive to CYP’s needs
create more consistent responses to CYP’s behaviour
practitioners to feel more ‘in control’ during incidents
promotes positive relationships between adults and CYP

Circle of Friends

Circle of Friends can be used to support the inclusion of CYP with SEND, who may be having difficulties in school/college and would benefit from peer support to help them feel more included.

It creates a support network for the focus child/young person.
It provides the child/young person with encouragement and recognition for any achievements and progress.
It helps to identify difficulties the child/young person may have and helps to identify practical solutions.

Emotional Learning Support Assistants (ELSA)

Southampton Psychology Service continues to invest and support Emotional Literacy (EL) work in 3 main ways – 1) training new ELSAs, 2) supporting and developing the practice of our existing ELSAs, and 3) Promoting EL Development for all working with young people. Each of these commissioned services can be purchased into directly, or, new for the coming year, can be accessed at a promotional level via our SLA.

Initial ELSA Training

Southampton Psychology Service have developed a six-day ELSA course, delivered twice a year (in the Autumn and Spring terms). This includes both practical and theory elements and is spread out over a period of five consecutive weeks (One day per week), followed by a 6th day the following term. Successful completion of the course is a requirement for ELSA Registration and entry into our ongoing CPD support package (see 2) below). The course includes taught sessions, individual reflection, group activities and applied learning tasks at school between sessions. As a core aspect of our training, we require a member of senior staff in a supervisory role for the ELSA to attend on the morning of the fifth day.

For additional information and/or booking of ELSA training, please contact:
- Jackie.holgate@southampton.gov.uk
  (Team Standards Co-Ordinator)
ELSA Registration and FuEL Sessions

The Southampton ELSA register is a list of ELSAs working in the city who we recognise as having met our criteria for demonstrating an ongoing commitment to professional development and for working with children in a manner we consider appropriate to the role of an ELSA. This includes having completed a recognised initial ELSA training course, completing regular work towards the key roles of an ELSA, and, engaging in appropriate professional development to earn ‘ELSA credits’, with access to psychologist-led supervision as a core requirement within this. It is up to ELSAs to apply for registration each year once they have satisfied the specific requirements of the register. There is no additional cost to seek registration.

Further information is on the ELSA website: network. ELSA - Registration

In 2021/22 we launched a new ELSA Professional Development model aimed to help ELSAs flourish. This involves 3 distinct aspects directly linked to our registration and ELSA credit systems:

Networking - helping ELSAs to CONNECT with and learn from others.

Supervision - helping ELSAs to REFLECT on and learn from experiences.

Training - helping ELSAs to GROW your skills and confidence.

Based on feedback from ELSAs, consideration of the time and financial costs to schools, and through our own investment in EL Development, we have now combined all parts of the model above to form our FuEL Sessions – first launched in Autumn 2023.

FuEL (Filling up Emotional Literacy)

These are half-day sessions (1-4.15pm) that run termly and combine all three aspects of our CPD model in one event – Connect (Networking), Reflect (Supervision), Grow (Training). Held at a central location, with refreshments provided, FuEL sessions provide ELSAs the chance to connect with peers, share and compare ideas, try out and rent EL resources (no additional charge), access high-quality face-to-face small group supervision, and participate in an EP-led topic-based training, with a ‘take-away’ element to bring back and put into practice in their own setting.

Emotional Literacy Conference

Our EL Conference is a one-day annual event, usually held in January. It is suitable for ELSAs, Nurture Leads, SENDCos, SMHleads and/or anyone with an interest in Emotional Literacy and supporting Children and Young People. The conference involves a keynote speaker, networking opportunities,, the chance to engage in a number of different workshops covering ‘Think’ (theory/thought based), ‘Feel’ (experiential), and ‘Do’ (practical/strategy based), alongside a final reflective or generative whole group activity. Each conference has a different theme connected with Emotional Literacy.

January 2024’s theme was ‘Side-by-Side: Trav-EL-ing Together’, We received very positive feedback with 95% of responders stating they would be both highly likely to attend a future conference and to recommend it to friends and colleagues.

This year’s conference will take place on Wednesday 22 January 2025 and is titled “Creating Compassionate Communities” - keep a look out for the event flyer and we hope to see you there!

Our conference website provides details of past and future events: Southampton Emotional Literacy Conference (google.com)

SLA EL Special Offers

Full Package: ELSA Training, FuEL Sessions AND EL Conference place for 1 ELSA = 1.5 days
Part Package A*: ELSA Training, FuEL Sessions OR EL Conference place for 1 ELSA = 1.25 days
Part Package B**: FuEL Sessions AND EL Conference place for 1 ELSA = 0.5 days
Multi-Package***: FuEL Sessions AND EL Conference place for 4 ELSA = 1.5 days

* Only suitable for Newly Trained ELSAs (first year)

** Only suitable for ELSAs who have already completed initial training

*** For settings/clusters/trusts with multiple trained ELSAs – – equates to ‘Buy three, get one free’

For all EL related queries, please contact: ed.sayer@southampton.gov.uk (Specialist EP, EL Lead)

Trauma and Attachment Aware Educational Settings (TAAES) Project

Following a successful pilot with five schools across the city in 2022-2023, the Trauma and Attachment Aware Educational Settings (TAAES) Initiative has been launched city wide. Delivered through the Southampton Virtual School and Psychology Service, the initiative is an opportunity for settings to demonstrate and enhance how their processes, practices and policies operate from a trauma informed stance as well as an opportunity to receive professional support from Educational Psychologists to develop and enhance their existing work. This is a five-year initiative with training and Educational Psychology support provided throughout to create sustainability of Trauma Informed Practice over time.

Please contact the project coordinator Alex Boys (Senior Educational Psychologist) for more information and to book your setting onto this exciting project! alex.boys@southampton.gov.uk

This course explores the use of Nurture Groups as a therapeutic tool for inclusion. It covers the practicalities of setting up and running successful Nurture Groups in settings, including consideration of the Boxall Profile, the physical environment, group dynamics, activities to develop social and emotional skills, and supporting successful transitions. Time will also be spent thinking about how we can build a sense of belonging for Nurture Group CYP, and create a nurturing whole-school environment. The course will also cover Attachment Theory, as the theoretical basis for Nurture Groups, and will provide an overview of the evidence-base in support of the intervention.

Example aims:

To identify different types of nurturing interventions and how they are structured.
To discuss the key steps involved in planning a nurturing intervention.
To explore different activities that could be undertaken during a nurturing intervention.
To explore assessment and review process.

Theraplay® based practice

Theraplay® based practice is a relational/trauma-informed approach which can be used at an individual (child with adult; dyadic), small group or whole-class basis. The goal of Theraplay® based practice is to use fun and play to develop feelings of safety, nurture and attachment for children and the adults supporting them as well as to develop key skills for how the child(ren) and adult(s) interact with each other and the world around them. Theraplay® based practice will start with an assessment stage to identify the key needs of the child(ren)/adults which then allows the sessions to be individualised to their needs. Theraplay® based practice follows 4 dimensions:

Structure: Safety, Organisation, Regulation
Engagement: Connection, Attunement, Expansion of Positive Affect
Nurture: Regulation, Secure base, Worthiness
Challenge: Support exploration, Growth and Mastery, Competency and Confidence.

Theraplay® based practice would be delivered by a practitioner who is trained in Theraplay® level one/group work or above.

DNA -V

The DNA-V model has been developed for young people to help think about and learn the skills needed to support them to thrive. It is based on an approach called ACT ('Acceptance and Commitment Therapy/Training') and draws from 'positive psychology'. This means that we purposefully focus on what can help, not solely on what could be 'wrong'.

Key aims of this approach include helping young people to recognise and understand strong emotions, consider how helpful the messages sent by such thoughts and feelings are, and empower them to make active choices over their responses based on 'values’ that are important to them. This research-informed approach can support young people to move from feeling judged, out of control and unable to cope, to a position where they can learn to accept and manage their feelings and related responses in a way which improves their daily life experiences and long-term emotional wellbeing.

DNA-V can be delivered on both individual and a small group basis. Much like ACT, it can also be used as a form of ‘coaching’ within supervision/reflective spaces, with skills and understanding built by the conversations over time between EP and key staff partners.

Groups run in 2023/24 academic year included an ‘Emotional Resilience’ group for six Year 6 boys showing overwhelmed emotions ahead of transition, and a ‘Managing My Stress’ group for Year 10/11 pupils approaching their GSCEs. Informal feedback included reports that students in both contexts looked forwards to sessions, continued to both discuss the concepts and use the strategies following the sessions, and that staff enjoyed and benefited from co-facilitating the sessions.