It offers  valuable insights into their unique role and responsibilities, as well as guidance to understand the challenges and rewards of caregiving. We hope to give you tools, techniques, and resources to navigate your caregiving journey and to create a positive and nurturing environment for the tamariki and rangatahi in your care. 

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It offers valuable insights into their unique role and responsibilities, as well as guidance to understand the challenges and rewards of caregiving. We hope to give you tools, techniques, and resources to navigate your caregiving journey and to create a positive and nurturing environment for the tamariki and rangatahi in your care. 

Register here

Here are the main objectives of this training:

• Learn how trauma, abuse, and neglect shape a child’s developing brain.
• Explore how trauma influences children’s behaviour and emotions.
• Gain supportive guidance on the biological roots of trauma.
• Recognise how trauma manifests in everyday behaviours.
• Discover how your responses can help children heal and rebuild trust.
• Feel more confident and equipped to support children with empathy and practical tools.

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“This course was a good refresher for me. It made me more conscious of how trauma can affect the ability to learn, and the need to do things consistently and repeatedly to allow time and patience for learning to happen.”

“So very helpful to be reminded of how trauma effects brain development. Will help me not to react so quickly to the behaviour, as I have a great understanding of where it comes from.”

Attachment shapes how we connect, trust and grow. By understanding its roots and behaviours, we unlock the tools to nurture resilience and healthy relationships in children. It is important for you to understand as most children in care have insecure attachments due to their past trauma and adversity.

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“It’s really good. All the caregivers and OT Social Workers should do these courses more often. I wish I had done them before.”

“I have more understanding of their attachment styles. This will help me manage how I respond to what’s going on for them in different circumstances.”

Historical trauma, on the other hand, is the collective emotional and psychological damage experienced by a group over generations due to significant historical events like colonisation, slavery, war or genocide. Both types of trauma can profoundly affect individuals and communities, influencing behaviours, health outcomes, and social dynamics.

You’ll learn to recognise signs of trauma, understand their effects on emotional regulation, relationships and brain development. Explore strategies to create safe, supportive environments, and much more.

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“Very informative. I now have a better understanding of developmental trauma and how to support my children through it.”

“I found the historical trauma sections really interesting. The section on supporting children with developmental trauma reinforced the importance of the different ways emotional resilience can be built over time.”

Using the House Model, we cover the importance of a secure base, fostering strong relationships and the need to support emotional and behavioural development. You will learn about attachment-focused and trauma-informed approaches to connecting with the child in your care, including Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy (PACE).

The key parts of the House Model, such as boundaries, nurture, and guidance, are a common thread across many of our training courses. Healing using the House Model of Parenting will give you a good understanding of them all.

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“Excellent. I will now try to create an environment that is predictable for the child and myself, allowing the time to observe and interact with the child to recognise emotional triggers and patterns.”

“It’s been a helpful reminder that our children do have a secure base in our home, even though it can feel chaotic at times! I will try to be more empathetic and not jump so quickly to solutions.”

Therapeutic parenting aligns with the principles of manaakitanga (care and compassion), wairuatanga  (spiritual wellbeing), and whanaungatanga  (building strong relationships). It acknowledges the impact of mamae (hurt) and whētuki (trauma) on tamariki and seeks to restore mauri (life essence) and mana (dignity) through consistent, empathetic, and culturally grounded care.

By using empathy, consistency, and understanding, therapeutic parenting helps children regulate their emotions, form secure attachments, and build healthy relationships. It focuses on addressing the underlying needs behind challenging behaviours, promoting long-term emotional and psychological well-being.

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“Some helpful strategies when dealing with undesirable behaviour.”

“Loved it. I learned how different traditional parenting is (the way I went through childhood), compared to therapeutic parenting – which is the way I will start to teach my children.”

At Caring Families Aotearoa we acknowledge and celebrate the many different cultures that make up and contribute to our country. We embrace these differences as they form the foundation of our identity – both as individuals and as a community. Each culture is steeped in history and lore, and each has their approach to health and well-being. This course focuses on well-being from a Māori perspective.

The information it contains is a humble offering of centuries of knowledge passed down through generations by way of stories, karakia (spiritual incantation), waiata (songs), whakapapa (genealogy) and practice. We have taken a small cross section of that knowledge to share.

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“A very good course. I will focus now on my strengths and not be so hard on myself when things go sideways. I’ll also be more aware of the body language the kids display.”

“The course flowed well and explained aspects simply but effectively. An hour so so well spent, thank you.”

Understanding ACEs is the first step on the journey to therapeutic care. There are four parts to this training:

1. An introduction to Adverse Childhood Experiences
2. How to identify ACEs and understand their long-term effects on health and opportunities
3. Protective factors and therapeutic strategies to support children and help them build resilience
4. Creating a safe and nurturing environment for children affected by ACEs.

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“This course is very helpful for my understanding of ACE’s and has a lot of information on how I can improve and do things better to help the children… thank you.”

“Through this learning, I’ve gained a deeper understanding of how early trauma (ACEs) can shape a child’s behaviour, development, and ability to trust others. I now see that challenging behaviour is often a response to pain or fear, not simply disobedience.”