PROTECTiVE
BEHAViOURS
Are you working with children and families who seem to repeatedly put themselves in unsafe situations and you can’t figure out why?
Perhaps they’re now in a safe situation but don’t seem to be making any progress despite no longer being in danger…
Or maybe you just want a better understanding of what people need to move from surviving to thriving…
If any of this sounds familiar, then we’ve got you covered!
What is Protective Behaviours?
Protective Behaviours (or PBs for short because, let’s be honest, the full deal is a bit of a mouthful!) is a practical framework that can be applied by your team, by parents and carers, and by children to thrive.
As an added bonus, it will be just as applicable in your team’s personal lives as it is in their professional capacity.
Best of all, it doesn’t require you to change your current practices and processes (unless you want to!) – it simply enhances them.
Protective Behaviours is a framework based on the need and right to feel safe and how we support people to be and feel safe. It will also help you as a worker and those you work with to better understand and find solutions to “people” problems.
At SFAC, the way we teach PBs incorporates:
🌟 trauma informed practice,
🌟 neuroscience,
🌟 safe relationships (attachment)
🌟 and workplace psychological safety (preventing burnout and vicarious trauma).
Our lead PBs trainer, Dr Caitlin Lance Hope, describes PBs as “a perfect foundation for teaching the art (and the science!) of how to care – for ourselves, others and the world.”
Who is Protective Behaviours for?
Consistent with recent advances in our understanding of the brain and the importance of safety to our physiological and psychological health, the Protective Behaviours framework has been used in multiple countries for almost 5 decades.
It has a proven track record in child care and protection organisations, schools, police departments, and juvenile justice, to name just a few.
Protective Behaviours has transformed the way we work and train here at SFAC and we can’t wait to see the changes it brings to your organisation, too!
In other words, PBs is for everyone!
Protective Behaviours Options at SFAC
At SFAC, our Protective Behaviours training courses, mentoring and consulting are designed to:
✅ increase your understanding of challenging behavioural responses
✅ help you identify when children and their families or carers are feeling unsafe and support them to come up with practical solutions to help them feel safe again. It will also help do the same for you and your team!
✅ provide you with new tools for problem solving and understanding complex cases.
✅ transform your understanding of stress and coping, equipping you with new ways of working with them.
Whenever you work with SFAC in any capacity you will encounter the Protective Behaviours framework. If you’re interested in learning more about Protective Behaviours and/or using it in your organisation the first step is to complete the accredited Protective Behaviours Foundation Course.
1. Protective Behaviours Foundation Course
We’ve partnered with the Protective Behaviours Consortium* to bring you the PBs Foundation Course.
The PBs Foundation Course is a fun, interactive and immediately applicable training. It can be completed online or in person and involves a minimum of 4 x three hour sessions.
Here’s some of what’s included:
✅ Two themes to guide your work caring for and protecting children and families (and lots of practical ways to use them in your day to day)
✅ Two concepts to help you explore difficult or challenging situations (for yourself or for those you support in your work)
✅ Seven strategies you can implement right away to help yourself and those you work with be and feel safe, develop a sense of belonging and have the best chance to thrive
✅ A comprehensive ebook from Protective Behaviours Consortium and session notes from your SFAC trainer.
Bonuses:
🌟 Our lead Protective Behaviours trainer, Dr Caitlin Lance Hope, is a chartered psychologist who has lived and worked in multiple countries across 4 continents. You will have access to additional insights, tips and resources drawn from her expertise and experience.
🌟 If you complete the Protective Behaviours Foundation Course through SFAC you will also have access to PBs Power Hours.* These one hour sessions are a chance to ask any PBs related questions, discuss how PBs applies to a particular situation you or your team are working on and to learn how others are applying PBs to their work all over the world. They also often include a 15-20 minute mini training.
*Subject to SFAC’s financial resources and staff availability
What does the course cost?
We aim to make our training accessible to all.
The cost of the Protective Behaviours Course is subject to change. However, current prices are £325 per person. Group rates and our subsidies are available for organisations that meet our criteria and occasionally we have scholarships available.
Contact info@sfac.org.uk to find out more and to receive an accurate quote for your organisation.
2. PBs Consulting & Mentoring
Completing the Foundation Course is just the beginning!
In addition to the PBs Power Hours, our Protective Behaviours trainers are available for consulting and mentoring sessions to help you embed the PBs framework into your organisation’s practice. These trainers are qualified Protective Behaviours practitioners and either social workers or psychologists.
These sessions are tailored to meet the specific needs of your organisation.
They often include, but are not limited to the following:
🌟 Case consultation especially around complex cases
🌟 How to use the Protective Behaviours framework to support your staff team and reduce the risk of compassion fatigue and burnout
🌟 How to integrate the Protective Behaviours framework into your organisation’s practice at all levels.
Contact info@sfac.org.uk for availability, up to date pricing and to find out more.
*Protective Behaviours Consortium – our accrediting body
Protective Behaviours is an open source framework developed by Peg Flandreau West in the USA during the 1990s. Being open source has advantages and disadvantages.
The great thing is it means you can adapt the framework to your specific cultural context and you don’t have to pay lots of money to buy manuals or set resources.
The not-so-great aspect is that there is no overarching body providing quality assurance.
We have carefully researched PBs training and course options and have chosen to partner with the Protective Behaviours Consortium who accredit and quality assure our PBs work. This means you can be assured that your SFAC PBs courses will be of the highest standard.
PBC is a leading provider of Protective Behaviours training in the UK. They work hard to ensure the training you receive is of the highest standard. PBC also provides support to PBs practitioners and trainers. You can find out more about their work on their website: www.protectivebehaviours.co.uk
PBC are not the only provider of Protective Behaviours training in the UK. We chose to do our training through them for a few reasons:
✅ They offer excellent ongoing support to those who choose to continue their PBs journey and become a registered practitioner and/or trainer.
✅ They include the two concepts in their framework and we believe this is important for reasons that will hopefully become clear over the course of your training
✅ They have extremely high standards and quality assurance processes