Gateway Psychology

08/12/2025

Many families we work with experience a mixture of feelings at Christmas - connection and joy, but also loss, overwhelm, anxiety or uncertainty. For children and young people with adoption, foster care, SGO or early trauma histories, the festive period can be particularly challenging.

In our latest blog, we explore this through the metaphor of a Christmas Pudding of Belonging - recognising that every family’s “recipe” is unique, and that what matters most is creating emotional safety, predictability and acceptance, not perfection.

If you’re supporting children and young people through the holidays, we hope this brings reassurance, understanding and a sense of compassion.

🔗 Read here: https://www.gateway-psychology.co.uk/the-christmas-pudding-of-belonging/

07/12/2025

⏰ Time is running out to reserve your place!

If you work with children and young people affected by trauma, this is a course you won’t want to miss.

Our Prenatal Alcohol Exposure & FASD training is happening on 11 December 2025, and there are still places available.

This one-day online session will help you:
🧠 Understand how prenatal alcohol exposure affects development
💡 Recognise needs that are often misunderstood or misdiagnosed
🛠️ Gain practical ideas for providing meaningful support
👥 Learn from clinicians experienced in trauma and attachment

📅 Date: 11 December 2025
⏰ 09:30–16:30
💻 Online via Zoom
💷 £160 + VAT

Suitable for: social workers, clinicians, support workers, and professionals in education/social care.

👉 Book your place before time runs out:

Exposure to alcohol before birth can significantly affect a child's growth, behaviour, and overall wellbeing, often in lifelong ways. Professionals across education, healthcare, and social services frequently work with children impacted by this type of early exposure. However, these effects are comm...

05/12/2025

Parenting can be tough, especially when your own early experiences did not give you a safe, steady model to follow. This post explores why that happens, how attachment and adversity shape parenting, and how structured support can help you build connection, confidence and resilience.

It is written with honesty and care, recognising real challenges while offering hope and practical ways forward.

https://www.gateway-psychology.co.uk/parenting-when-the-odds-feel-stacked/

02/12/2025

Our Prenatal Alcohol Exposure & FASD course is running on 11 December 2025, and we still have spaces available for professionals who want to deepen their understanding of how prenatal alcohol exposure affects children’s development, behaviour, and wellbeing.

This one-day online training is led by two highly experienced clinicians and offers practical, trauma-informed strategies for supporting children and young people impacted by prenatal alcohol exposure.

What you will gain:
✔ A clear understanding of prenatal alcohol exposure & FASD
✔ Insights into how early trauma affects the brain
✔ Practical tools for providing effective, compassionate support

📅 Date: 11 December 2025
⏰ Time: 9:30–16:30
💷 £160 + VAT
💻 Online via Zoom

Suitable for: social workers, support workers, clinicians, and professionals working with trauma-experienced children and young people.

🔗 Book your place while spaces remain:

Exposure to alcohol before birth can significantly affect a child's growth, behaviour, and overall wellbeing, often in lifelong ways. Professionals across education, healthcare, and social services frequently work with children impacted by this type of early exposure. However, these effects are comm...

28/11/2025

If your child is always on the go, seems clumsy or wobbly, uses lots of force, or avoids things like climbing or new textures, it might be because their early development was disrupted. These movement patterns are often the body’s way of asking for support.

LEAPlets helps rebuild these foundations through simple, playful activities such as:

• Rolling and crawling
• Balancing and climbing on small equipment
• Exploring touch through the feely bag
• Blowing and sucking games to support regulation

With songs, stories and predictable routines, children grow confidence and steadiness while parents learn how early experiences shaped their child’s movement and emotions.

🗓️ Starts 12 January 2026
⏰ Funding deadline: 20 December 2025
👪 Ages 2-6
📧 referrals@gateway-psychology.co.uk

28/11/2025

The BBC’s recent investigation into adoption breakdowns has highlighted experiences that many adoptive and special-guardianship families will recognise. Parenting children who have lived through early trauma can bring both joy and challenge, and the level of support available doesn’t always match the level of need.

Families in the report spoke about moments when support didn’t come soon enough, or when they felt misunderstood. Social workers also face pressures of their own - high caseloads, limited time, and growing complexity in the situations they’re trying to respond to. Most people involved are doing their best within a very stretched system.

This is why many people are concerned about the recent changes to the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF).

For lots of families, this funding has been the main route to accessing therapeutic help - support that can make daily life feel more manageable and help children make sense of what they’ve been through.

If you’re worried about what these changes might mean, there are ways to add your voice:

✉️ You can write to your MP to explain why access to therapeutic support matters to you or your family.
🗣 You can share your experience with Action against ASGSF changes, a parent-led group gathering stories and campaigning to help highlight the impact of the changes.

Families seeking help for their children’s complex needs describe threats of police action against them.

27/11/2025

Today’s budget allocated 2.4BN to children’s social care to deliver early intervention and support for families. Whilst this is hugely welcome and needed, there was no announcement on how funding can help adoptees and their families access support. This is despite the Adoption Barometer highlighting that 42% of families last year were facing severe challenges or were in crisis – the highest ever.

It has been almost three months since the government announced ASGSF funding would continue next year, but we are still waiting to hear how much eligible adoptees and those in kinship care can access, causing increased anxiety and uncertainty, and making it impossible for therapeutic providers to plan.

If you have not already done so, please consider writing to your MP using our template letter below urging the Children’s Minister and the Chancellor to take immediate action.

Write to your MP - template letter: https://ow.ly/C0yp50XycNQ

The Budget:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6926eb102a37784b16ecf525/E03444720_Budget_2025_Web_Accessible.pdf

The Adoption Barometer: https://ow.ly/VMB250XycNR

26/11/2025

🧠 The teenage years can be intense - for young people and for the adults caring for them. When early trauma is part of a teen’s story, these changes can feel even more confusing to navigate.

Our A-ABC (Adolescence, Attachment and Building Connection) groups offer a calm, supportive space to understand what’s happening in the teenage brain , how attachment needs shift, and how to stay connected during a stage full of big feelings and big transitions.

Parents who joined us last year shared:
- “Using more empathy… recognising my own shark music… reconnecting with my teenager.”
- “Realistic expectations of my teen.”
- “Home is a lot less like a war zone and everyone seems happier.”
- “It was good to know we were not alone.”
- “I now have tools and techniques to navigate us through.”
- “A safe space. Everyone was in the same boat.”

We also saw clear changes in confidence and understanding:
✨ 61% improvement in understanding attachment
✨ 56% improvement in skills for building connection
✨ 57% improvement in seeing change in the parent–teen relationship

Our next A-ABC groups run January-March 2026, with morning and evening options. Funding may be available through your Local Authority or RAA (deadline 19 December 2025). Social workers can refer directly.

If you'd like more information, we’re here to help: training@gateway-psychology.co.uk: https://www.gateway-psychology.co.uk/event/a-abc-therapeutic-parenting-jan-2026/

25/11/2025

🌿 Supporting families raising children who’ve experienced early trauma

Our next eTR-UST programme begins 21 January 2026, offering a safe, understanding space for adoptive parents, special guardians and kinship carers.

Across eight weekly online sessions, our experienced clinicians help you:
✨ Understand what’s underneath your child’s behaviour
✨ Strengthen connection and trust
✨ Use practical, therapeutic approaches that really make a difference
✨ Feel more supported and confident in your role

Families often tell us that eTR-UST feels more like being understood and finally having things make sense - not like taking a “parenting course”.

🗓 Starts: 21 January 2026
⏰ Morning & evening groups
📅 Funding deadline: 20 Dec 2025

👉 Find out more or make a referral today: https://www.gateway-psychology.co.uk/event/etr-ust-therapeutic-parenting-jan-2026/

23/11/2025

Stir-up Sunday is here - the day many families traditionally mix their Christmas pudding, each person taking a turn to stir and make a wish.

For adoptive, kinship and special guardianship families, the festive season can bring a real mix of emotions. Excitement and anticipation often sit alongside anxiety, memories, uncertainty and overwhelm. What goes into the bowl doesn’t always blend easily, and that’s completely normal.

In our latest blog, The Christmas Pudding of Belonging, we explore how to navigate the build-up to Christmas with steadiness, flexibility and trauma-aware support. From managing sensory overload to noticing the small “sixpence moments,” it’s a reminder that families can find grounding even when the season feels intense.

✨ Read the full piece here: https://www.gateway-psychology.co.uk/the-christmas-pudding-of-belonging/

18/11/2025

🎄 The build-up to Christmas can be exciting for many pupils… but for some, it can also become too stressful.

Children who have experienced early trauma often struggle to regulate strong emotions, and that includes excitement. When everything feels louder, faster and less predictable than usual, excitement can tip into overstimulation and dysregulation.

In our latest blog, we explore what the festive term can feel like for pupils who are adopted, in kinship care or living under an SGO, and why the mix of anticipation and change can be hard to manage.

We also share practical strategies schools can use to support children through this busy period.

✨ Read the full blog: https://www.gateway-psychology.co.uk/big-emotions-in-the-festive-term-a-guide-for-schools/

If your team would benefit from more trauma-informed tools and confidence, our Trauma-Informed Classrooms training on 24 November offers practical, psychology-led guidance for primary school staff.

📘 Book here: https://www.gateway-psychology.co.uk/event/trauma-informed-classrooms-sept-2025/

17/11/2025

⏰ One week to go! There’s still time to book your place.

A one-day online course for teachers and school staff who support children affected by trauma, attachment, or early adversity.

Led by clinical psychologists, it focuses on:
🧠 Understanding trauma and attachment
💬 Responding to behaviour with empathy and structure
🏫 Building safe, supportive classrooms

💷 Autumn offer: £160 + VAT (normally £230)
🎟️ Book your place today: https://www.gateway-psychology.co.uk/event/trauma-informed-classrooms-sept-2025/

Give your team the confidence and clarity to handle challenging moments calmly and effectively.