I chose this topic because it reflects the reality of my day-to-day practice and one of the most formative journeys of my professional life. Working as a Practitioner using the Non-Violent Resistance approach has repeatedly placed me alongside families living with fear, exhaustion, and profound uncertainty, they endure whilst navigating violence in the home and simultaneously facing serious risks that sit far beyond it.
I qualified as a Mental Health Nurse in 1997, initially working in an acute adult mental health ward, then in a crisis team until the opportunity came to move into CAMHS on a development post. This is where my passion for working with families and parents began, which eventually led to completing my family therapy training. I am now a full-time family therapist in CAMHS.
Introducing Non-Violent Resistance (NVR)
In March 2022, Rachel Horn and I began training in Non-Violent Resistance (NVR).
NVR has been shown to reduce aggression and improve dynamics within residential and inpatient settings (van Gink et al., 2020; Embeita & Birch, 2025).
Inspired by its use within our then consultant, Dr Claire Purcell’s previous context, we sought to integrate NVR into the ward, family therapy and parent group interventions.
Non-Violent Resistance (NVR) is an empowering, relationship-focused approach to working with young people, particularly those displaying challenging behaviours. Originally developed for parents and carers, NVR has found a powerful place within residential childcare settings. But one element often overlooked is self-care — not just for the young people, but for the carers, social workers, educators, and families forming the wider support network.
Teachers in loco-parentis isn’t as easy as it sounds. Taking on a new approach to the traditional NVR (Non-Violent Resistance) concepts and adapting the tools to be used in the ever-changing dynamics of the education system.
Have you ever had a teacher who made a positive impact on you that you remember to this day?
Our family was referred to PartnershipProjects because we were at a loss to know what to do with our teen son. Because of a severely stressful family problem, he turned from being a generally happy teen to becoming increasingly depressed, anxious and finally violent. He was shutting himself off, stopping going to school, addicted to screens, swearing at us, and wall punching. We were treading on eggshells.
How does it feel, I wonder, to come to meet with someone like me, an NVR Therapist working in a CAMHS service, when your child is putting themselves at risk, acting in controlling and out of control ways and undermining your wishes for them as a parent in every way?
How much courage does it take to come to another “Parenting Course” and to open yourself up to meet with another stranger who is going to tell you how to manage your child when you know that other courses you have been sent on haven’t worked?
When I think about NVR, I imagine it to be a tree that grows and flourishes over many years.
The Roots: One of the main factors that has allowed me to fully embrace NVR in my thinking and my practice is that the principles of NVR are at the core roots of our team’s ethos and in the set-up and delivery of our offer within Children’s Social Care. At the heart of this are the relationships we have built within our team that are wise, caring, nurturing, compassionate and supportive. We hope to emulate these values with our colleagues and the teams we support, and which supports us to grow and hold presence within our team and with colleagues that we support.
After working for Children’s Social Care for more than 15 years and working with families in crisis, I joined Alder Hey in 2019 as a Mental Health Practitioner.
I had no idea of what NVR entailed, but had taken cases to supervision and been advised that this family needs NVR a few times, and so when the opportunity to attend the foundation training appeared, I grabbed it. Since then, I have incorporated principles of NVR in most of my interventions, whether it be with parents or groups or even with colleagues.
