PACE & Relational Practice

Service Description

PACE & Relational Practice is a live, interactive course exploring how relationships can become one of the most powerful tools available to residential childcare practitioners. The session moves beyond simply learning what PACE stands for and focuses on what relational practice actually looks like when supporting children who may have experienced trauma, disrupted attachments, rejection, instability or difficulties trusting adults. Participants explore Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy, considering how each principle can influence communication, emotional regulation, behaviour and relationships. Rather than treating PACE as a script or collection of phrases, the course explores the thinking behind the approach and how practitioners can use it naturally and authentically in everyday residential care. The training examines behaviour as communication, encouraging practitioners to look beyond what a child is doing and consider what may be happening underneath. Instead of simply asking, "How do we stop this behaviour?", participants consider what the behaviour might be communicating and what the child may need from the adults around them. The course also challenges the misconception that relational practice means removing boundaries or avoiding difficult conversations. Participants explore how warmth, empathy and curiosity can exist alongside clear expectations, consistency and appropriate professional boundaries. Particular attention is given to emotional safety, trust and co-regulation. Practitioners consider how their own emotional state, tone, language and responses can either increase tension or help a child feel safe enough to regulate and reconnect. The session also explores repair following conflict or difficult incidents, helping practitioners understand how reconnection and reflection can strengthen relationships without relying on shame, blame or punitive responses. Through discussion, scenarios, real residential childcare examples and reflective questioning, participants connect relational theory directly to life on shift. Following the session, each participant completes an individual Learning Validation & Reflection. Every submission is personally assessed before certification, with a complimentary 30-minute 1:1 follow-up available where further learning is required.