Training
CPD Standards
Wave Connections CIC is committed to delivering high-quality Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training that empowers educators, professionals, and caregivers to create trauma-aware, inclusive, and compassionate environments for children and families.
Our training meets recognised CPD standards by ensuring that all courses are:
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Evidence-based and experiential – rooted in current research on attachment, trauma, and neurodiversity.
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Outcome-focused – designed to enhance professional practice, emotional literacy, and inclusive approaches in education and care settings.
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Reflective and relational – encouraging participants to build insight, empathy, and resilience in their work with children and families.
Our CPD-accredited programmes include:
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PACE and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP) Training
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Nurturing Attachment Therapeutic Parenting Programme
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Just Right State Sensory Attachment Programme
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Mindful Yoga for Young People’s Emotional Health
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Theraplay® and Attachment-Based Approaches
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Consultation and Guidance on behavioural and emotional health management
Wave Connections equips professionals with the skills and confidence to respond effectively to developmental trauma, attachment difficulties, and emotional health needs—promoting improved relationships, learning outcomes, and well-being for every child.
PACE Therapeutic Parenting Training
DDP PACE training provides you with a thorough understanding and experience of PACE embedded within the DDP framework. It explores the PACE attitude, a way of thinking, feeling, communicating and behaving that aims to support the child to feel safe.
What is DDP PACE Training?
DDP PACE training will help you to understand the impact of developmental trauma and the challenges that children with this experience can struggle with. It introduces how the experience of PACE within a DDP-informed approach can start to help these children to recover trust and safety. It also explores PACE as a way of being with adults of all ages to provide a secure foundation for relationships to grow and thrive.
Drawing on their capacity for regulation and reflection, DDP PACE helps adults who support children to emotionally connect with them in ways which increase feelings of safety and trust.
What Is PACE
PACE stands for playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy. It was created by Dr. Dan Hughes, the founder of DDPI and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP), as a core aspect of DDP. PACE is central to DDP-informed parenting and teaching.
You can read a detailed explanation by the DDP network about PACE here.
Who is it for?
DDP PACE training is open to everyone. It is suitable for all adults caring for, or working with children who have experienced relational trauma. This can include adoptive parents, foster carers, kinship carers, residential workers, education practitioners, and support workers for example.
How is it taught?
This attitude of playfulness, acceptance, curiosity and empathy is modelled on secure parent-infant interactions and guided by neuroscience and theories of attachment and intersubjectivity.
Core concepts include:
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Why children who have experienced developmental trauma, behave in the way they do
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What leads to children needing a different parenting approach involving PACE alongside behavioural support?
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How do we help/parent children that have experienced developmental trauma?
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What parenting capacities do parents need?
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Understanding what PACE is, and what it is not
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Using PACE alongside regulation and behavioural support
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The importance of self care, and blocked care
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Practical strategies for living and learning
On Completion
Once you have completed a Core DDP PACE training of 2 days or more you will receive your certificate and describe yourself as: ‘developing my use of DDP PACE within my practice’
Nurturing Attachment Therapeutic Parenting Program
Nurturing Attachment Program is a structured therapeutic Parenting Program providing theory-based strategies for parenting which runs for 18 sessions.
What is The Nurturing Attachment Programme?
The Nurturing Attachment programme is based on a ‘House Model of Parenting’ (Kim Golding) that aims to help carers develop parenting skills that are matched to the emotional and behavioural needs of their children. Parents are encouraged to manage behaviour but within the much broader context of building trust and security with children who may mistrust adults and / or have experienced trauma, loss or bereavement. The programme provides a coherent set of ideas and practical suggestions for therapeutically parenting
children in a way that nurtures security of attachment and therefore contributes to the building of resilience and emotional growth.
How is it taught?
The Nurturing Attachment parenting group is designed to provide guidance and support and aid reflective capacity to become ‘mind-minded’ within therapeutic parenting. Carers are encouraged to write reflective logs based on day to day experiences of parenting. Affective – reflective responses are collaboratively shared and expressed based on child’s behaviours and how this is internalized within a carer.
Nurturing Attachment group differs from traditional attachment training. Carers need to have completed foundations for attachment or conscious parenting program previously in order to access this experiential mode of learning and support. With the main aim of collaboratively learning from experience over the duration of the program. Day to day parenting experiences are utilised in understanding children’s functioning, adaptive behaviours and reflect on where parenting children with attachment difficulties may have had an impact on ones own emotional health.
Core Concepts
The program builds on existing skills and facilitates ideas for therapeutically parenting children that build bridges for connection, nurtures security of attachment, builds resilience, emotional growth, trust and enhances the relationship dance within the home.
Kim Golding’s nurturing attachment program has been researched by Julie Selwyn of \Hedley research Centre for fostering and adoption. Smaller analysis of the program have also been undertaken and can be seen. The house model of therapeutic parenting is analysed as a way of gaining a deeper understanding of what is trying to be achieved in building foundations for therapeutic parenting. Grounded in attachment, developmental trauma and neuroscience theory.
The Neurobiology of attachment focused parenting is explored within the program. Parenting may at times lead to blocked care. Understanding this in context can facilitate greater attachment relationships:
‘When the failings that emerge while parenting a mistrustful child meet a parent’s sense of failing when they were children, in relationship with their own parents, there is a risk for a perfect storm of blocked trust and blocked care’ (p.205 Jonathan Baylin, Daniel Hughes, 2016).
Just Right State Sensory Attachment Integration Program
The Just Right State Sensory Attachment Programme consists of 6 carer sessions and 6 young person sessions.
What is The Just Right State Sensory Attachment Integration Programme?
The Just Right State Sensory Attachment Integration Programme was devised by Eadaoin Bhreathnach, Specialist Trauma Occupational Therapist, following her work with children with learning needs and those with attachment needs. She observed fundamental needs, which led to the creation of this programme.
How is it taught?
Training is most effective when a group of carers undertake the programme together.
Core Concepts
The ‘Just Right State Scared Gang’ help introduce survival strategies and emotional states: fight, flight, freeze, and shutdown. This helps us match the emotions and feelings behind children’s behaviours. We explore different activities that support emotional regulation. Children and carers explore what it means that all communication and experiences are sensory, and how this leads to emotional stimuli and behaviour.
We learn how survival strategies used by children with complex trauma — experienced even in utero and early infancy — can wire the neuropathways of the nervous system.
The Four Levels of Processing:
Level 1: Autonomic Nervous System Activation / Regulation
Level 2: Modulation
Level 3: Interpretation
Level 4: Organisation
Children and adults are supported to explore their ‘Just Right State’ sensations, to understand how these influence perceptions and thoughts. Children are supporting in understanding and regulating their sensory and emotional world using a combination of exercises (e.g. on a gym ball), food exploration and games.