BACP CYPF conference 2023
Breaking the cycle of trauma and promoting healing and hope

We welcome you to explore principles and best practice drawing upon evidence-based trauma-informed approaches at the CYPF conference 2023.

Any conference associated with trauma raises a myriad of different emotional responses for individuals. As well as recognising the challenges, working with trauma also provides an opportunity for hope and healing. The conference will focus on best therapeutic practice linked to current research findings relating to positive outcomes when working with CYPF in trauma. 

We aim to provide a safe setting to explore principles and best practice drawing upon evidence-based trauma-informed approaches. The day will provide an introduction to practical tools and techniques to enhance current experience of counsellors and clients working with trauma, leaving delegates enthused and empowered to embrace this work 

Book your place

The CYPF conference 2023 is a hybrid event. Our hybrid events provide you with the opportunity to attend and engage both in person and online. In person attendance includes networking opportunities, lunch, refreshments and the chance to engage with divisional representatives and BACP staff. Online access includes interactive Q&A's, a chatroom to network with peers, and interactive polls.

This session aims to offer an overview of best practice when working with trauma and dissociation in children and young people. The presentation will outline key trauma protocols and evidence-based practice in the field of trauma and dissociation with the aim of orientating delegates with a range of experiences levels of working with trauma, to the content of the rest of the day. A child and young person focused perspective will be offered through vignettes and case example of almost 30 years of working as a psychotherapist in the field of trauma recovery. Contemporary research findings will be offered in relation to the presenters current PhD studies, which explore the perspective of various people in the team around the traumatized child’s life. 

This session is available in person and online as part of strand one.

This session will provide information and knowledge about the complexity of working with children and adolescents, and provide a greater an understanding complex trauma and dissociation.

This keynote presentation aims to:

• enable counsellors and therapists to become ‘unstuck’ in cases where children and adolescents suffer from complex trauma and dissociation
• provide a short introduction of the child and adolescent with complex trauma and dissociation and how they present and respond during counselling or therapy
• discuss assessment protocol, assessment tools and flexibility
• provide an introduction to the treatment protocol

Every area will be richly demonstrated by drawings, photos of sand trays, the use of metaphors and toys to help the child and adolescent make sense of what is happening in their internal experiences.

This session is available in person and online as part of strand one.

This talk will draw on Kathryn’s own experience as a foster career and counsellor

The session will look at Bruce Perry’s neurosequential model and how it can be applied when working with foster children.

The session will also explore traumas, triggers and differences when working with foster children in the counselling room

This session is available in person and online as part of strand one.

This session aims to provide information about dissociation as a creative coping strategy, utilised by Children and Young People, in response to trauma. The risks of not recognising or working with dissociation as part of trauma counselling/therapy will be highlighted and ways to work with dissociation using creative tools will be illustrated.

This session will also include:

• The latest research and knowledge of complex trauma and dissociation in C & YP, including the theoretical frameworks and the tri-phased approach to trauma treatment
• Psychoeducation, i.e., understanding trauma and trauma reactions, with a focus upon neurobiology of trauma and dissociation
• Case studies to illustrate the importance of identifying and working with dissociation, to provide practical strategies, tools and resources, and to give hope for healing.

This session is available in person and online as part of strand two.

This session will address the possible correlation between the use of an identity-conscious approach and building resilience in trauma therapy for children and young persons.

The session will also include:

• Current evidence-based research on complex trauma treatment within marginalized groups
• The use of psychoeducation in self-advocacy and resilience mindset building
• The latest research on the role of the caregiver/parent in the child’s post-traumatic recovery
• An interactive case study segment to explore the identification of trauma indicators and potential integrative therapy adaptations.

This session is available in person only as part of strand three.

This session addresses the unique position of school counsellors in supporting young refugees and asylum seekers in the UK. Incorporating insights from experts in trauma recovery and therapeutic work with refugees, it offers advice on supporting this important demographic. I argue that, as school counsellors, we are uniquely placed to build relationships that address both the impact of past horrors and the everyday difficulties of navigating the no-man’s land between childhood and adulthood. Working within the larger container of the school, we can work creatively to provide the right support at the right time, drawing on the resources which the clients bring with them as well as those of the larger community.

This session is available in person only as part of strand four.

This session will no longer take place at the event but will be included in the on-demand service, available until Friday 30 June 2023.

The aims of this session is for delegates to gain an understanding of The Polyvagal Theory, have an awareness of the Autonomic Nervous System and understand the feeling of 'safe' as a biological process and how to apply this understanding to working therapeutically with children and young people

This session is available in person and online as part of strand two.

Having a child with complex medical health conditions, special educational needs, and/or disabilities whether visible or hidden, tips parents into a world of medical appointments, assessments, other professionals and complexities. The focus, for parents and the professionals involved, tends to be on the child. However, the child is not an island, but exists in a world full of others. Little attention is paid to the parents' own difficulties, and in particular the traumas they may experience. This presentation aims to raise awareness of the sometimes acute and often ongoing trauma of navigating a complex world on behalf of your child.

Our aim with this session is to raise awareness of the following via interactive exercises and group discussion:

1. Who parent carers are and the context in which they are situated
2. What trauma looks like for parent carers across the lifespan
3. What can be done to support parent carers.

This session is available in person only as part of strand three.

This session will promote joint thinking between clinicians and school staff on trauma, how it is expressed in schools, the messages they convey and ways to promote healing. It will focus on how to support schools in developing a trauma informed culture and look at how to manage the inherent demands and limitations of educational settings while keeping the young people’s trauma and consequent needs at the forefront. There will also be  an aim to celebrate and utilise what teachers already naturally do (often unconsciously) to promote healing, rather than adding to workload's or pressures to prevent going beyond their remits.

This session is available in person and online as part of strand one.