In this session, Childhood Trauma Specialist Shahana Knight will set out a number of practical strategies to help us support pupils to manage their feelings, behaviour and wellbeing.

She will discuss using therapeutic language to upskill and teach the pupils – namely increasing emotional intelligence and self-awareness by using therapeutic language and responses to help pupils identify their feelings and emotions and therefore not become so "hijacked" by them.

She will also touch upon how to respond to behaviour with a connection rather than disconnection – acknowledging that children who are "misbehaving" are communicating that they need help to regulate their feelings and emotions. All behaviour is linked to an emotion, Shahana reminds us.

Finally, she will offer practical skills and techniques to help us to do all this without basing our responses on punishment. She will explain why detention, punishment, shouting and "sending them out" does not work and what teachers can do instead. Ultimately, the session will offer delegates a range of practical things they can implement in the classroom or school as a whole which encourage pupils to learn about how to take care of their own mental health.
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    Shahana Knight
    Childhood trauma & complex behaviour expert, Director of TPC Therapy
    Shahana is an award-winning Childhood Trauma and Mental Health Specialist supporting schools, care agencies, and national charities through her accredited CPD courses, therapeutic intervention, and online resource platforms. She is the Founder and Director of TPC therapy Ltd. A mental health service for children and young people where she manages a team of play therapists who work with vulnerable children and young people across the Uk.

    Shahana is the founder of the Therapeutic Schools approach where she helps schools put children’s wellbeing and mental health at the core of education. She is empowering and inspiring schools to make tangible, impactful differences by becoming trauma-informed and attachment aware. Shahana’s therapeutic school approach has been featured on BBC’s Newsround and on BBC Teach. She writes a regular feature in the Head Teachers Update magazine, hosts The Therapeutic Teacher Podcast and sits on a foster care panel.