FOUNDATION LEVEL

26, 27, 28 September 2023 (Days 1, 2, 3 – Training Days) – to be held in-person at London venue
29 November 2023 (Day 4 – Practice Day) – to be held ONLINE via Zoom

All days:
9am for 9.30am start.
Finish 4.30pm.
1 hour lunch break

FOUNDATION LEVEL (All days via Zoom)

27, 28, 29 June 2023 (Days 1, 2, 3 – Training Days) 
13 September 2023 (Day 4 – Practice Day)

All days:
9am for 9.30am start.
Finish 4.30pm.
1 hour lunch break

ADVANCED LEVEL (All days via Zoom)

10, 11 + 17, 18 October 2023 (Days 5, 6, 7, 8 – Training Days)
13 & 14 December 2023 (Days 9, 10 – Practice Days)

All days:
9am for 9.30am start.
Finish 4.30pm.
1 hour lunch break

Content Summary

Days 1-4: Foundations of Non Violent Resistance (NVR):

Note: Days 1-3 are Training Days and Day 4 is a mandatory Practice Day

• Basic principles of Non Violent Resistance as a psychological intervention;
• De-escalation and raising parental (adult) presence;
• Core principles and methods in NVR – understanding and practice;
• Understanding of aggression and externalising behaviour in young people;
• Reconciliation and reparation work;

Days 5-10: Specialist Skills and Knowledge in NVR for Complex Work:

Note: Days 5-8 are Training Days and Days 9&10 are mandatory Practice Days

• Working with multi-stressed families;
• Activating and working within wider systems in NVR – involving school, local authority, wider family, community and relevant agencies in the intervention;
• Working with child abuse and attachment: the NVR child focus;
• Integrating NVR and the treatment of trauma;
• New adaptations of NVR: self-isolation, anxiety, adult entrenched dependency.

Content In-Detail

Days 1-4: Foundations of NVR

Note: Days 1-3 are Training Days and Day 4 is a mandatory Practice Day

Basic principles of NVR as a psychological intervention

By trying to control, care-givers operate within the same’ logic of control’ as the child – control or be controlled. Most violent young people refuse to be controlled. The result is symmetrical escalation (parent and child losing their temper and trying to control each other) or complementary escalation (where the child becomes more and more coercive and powerful, and their parents or caregivers increasingly give in to their demands). This inevitably leaves the adults feeling helpless, disempowered, inadequate, frustrated and desperate. NVR is fundamentally orientated around parents and carers regaining a sense of agency within themselves and towards their child. The primary goal of NVR is the repair and rebuilding of relationships within the family or other social groups the young person moves in, that have been stressed by aggression, violence and other destructive behaviours.

The five cornerstones of NVR

1. De-escalate conflict during emotionally charged incidents– parental emotional self-regulation;
2. Prioritise problematic behaviour – learning to focus on and respond effectively to the most urgent issues;
3. Break the ‘seal of silence’, overcome parental isolation and develop support networks within the family and community;
4. Raise parental or adult presence through several kinds of considered and organised protest – taking nonviolent action;
5. Repair the parent-child relationship through reconciliation and reparation gestures.

Nonviolent principles appear at times ‘self-evident’ – but can be very challenging to put into practice; and at other times they feel deeply counter-intuitive. However, as parents and carers continue to learn to respond to serious family difficulties more effectively within the methodology of NVR, they develop a profound understanding of reconnecting within adult-child relationships and experience the improvement of the young person’s behaviour against this background.

Whilst a number of guiding principles give NVR its structure and help parents and carers develop an understanding of the process, it also allows for individual flexibility and can be adapted to each unique family and care situation.

NVR goes beyond the behaviour to develop a coherent and positive family narrative, and help children form more secure attachment, value and feel valued in their key relationships – even, or especially when the young person refuses to engage in therapy.

Days 5-10: Specialist training in NVR – preparation for the most complex work

Note: Days 5-8 are Training Days and Days 9&10 are mandatory Practice Days

Working within wider systems with NVR, especially with multi-stressed families

The second part of the training begins with working in school, with the local authority, wider family and community. Concepts from systemic work with the wider system around the family are integrated with the core NVR concepts and methodology, in order to meet the needs of families that have multi-agency involvement, and need to deal with a multitude of challenges.

We aim to promote a deeper understanding of aggression and externalising behaviour in young people, in general, and especially where there has been a history of trauma and abuse. The specialist training includes an introduction to child focussed work in NVR, in order to help re-sensitize care-givers to unmet need and distress in young people, which is generally obscured by their aggression.

Often, parents in multi-stressed families have been traumatised in life, and become re-traumatised by their child’s violence and aggression. An integration of therapeutic methods that have been developed for trauma, with nonviolent methods enables professionals to use NVR as a trauma-focussed approach.

The flexible, creative capacity within the NVR framework is one of its’ greatest strengths, and allows it to be a continually evolving and interactive method. By bringing the underlying nonviolent principles to bear on different situations involving harm and self-damaging behaviour, the methodology can be applied to many areas of difficulty that can seem intractable.

New adaptations of NVR

• Multi-stressed families
• Serious attachment problems – in the family, in care or after adoption, where there has been a history of child abuse, violence or neglect
• Working with parents of young people with social withdrawal, anxiety, OCD
• Internet addiction
• Adult entitled dependence
• Serious and enduring mental health problems
• Controlling behaviour in couples relationships, domestic violence

  Entry Requirements

Foundation Level –NVR Association (NVRA) Level 1

This course is tailored to professionals working in local authorities, health, education, social care, and voluntary sector organisations who are interested in supporting individual families who are experiencing Child to Parent Violence and Abuse (CPVA) using the Non Violent resistance approach.

Participants who have attended all four days of the Foundation Level Training will receive an Attendance Confirmation.

Advanced Level – NVR Association (NVRA) Level 2*

*Participation in Advanced Level Training Module AND completing the NVR Association (NVRA) Level qualification by acquiring the PartnershipProjects Certificate in Advanced NVR Practice.

In order to be eligible for the Advanced Level training, you must have completed the PartnershipProjects Foundation Level course or equivalent Level 1 training with a different provider, within the previous 2 years. You will be asked to provide evidence of this by sending in your Foundation Level attendance confirmation.  We recommend a gap of 12 months between the Foundation and Advanced Levels in order to consolidate practice.

Only practitioners with relevant qualifications and experience and who are registered with a professional body such as: HCPC, UKCP, BACP, NMC or GMC will be admitted to Advanced Level training.  Individuals wishing to undertake advanced training who do not hold the relevant professional registration should apply by submitting a covering letter outlining their experience of working with children / young people and their families along with their application.  These practitioners will typically be family support workers, behaviour support practitioners or youth workers with experience of working in statutory or independent sector organisations.

Participants who have attended all six days of the Advanced Level Training will receive an Attendance Confirmation.

ADVANCED LEVEL

9, 10, 11, 12 May 2023 (Days 5, 6, 7, 8 – Training Days) – to be held in-person at London venue
5 and 6 July 2023 (Days 9, 10 – Practice Days) – to be held ONLINE via Zoom

Trainer:
Peter Jakob, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Systemic Family Therapist, PartnershipProjects Clinical Director, NVR Association (NVRA) Accredited Practitioner & Supervisor

All days:
9am for 9.30am start.
Finish 4.30pm.
1 hour lunch break

FOUNDATION LEVEL

25, 26, 27 April 2023 (Days 1, 2, 3 – Training Days) 
5 July 2023 (Day 4)

All days:
9am for 9.30am start.
Finish 4.30pm.
1 hour lunch break

FOUNDATION LEVEL (All days via Zoom)

SOLD OUT – WAITING LIST ONLY

24, 25, 26 January 2023 (Days 1, 2, 3 – Training Days) 
29 March 2023 (Day 4)

All days:
9am for 9.30am start.
Finish 4.30pm.
1 hour lunch break

ADVANCED LEVEL (All days via Zoom)

14, 15 + 28, 29 November 2022 (Days 5, 6, 7, 8 – Training Days)
1, 2 February 2023 (Days 9, 10 – Practice Days)

Trainer:
Peter Jakob, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Systemic Family Therapist, PartnershipProjects Clinical Director, NVR Association (NVRA) Accredited Practitioner & Supervisor

All days:
9am for 9.30am start.
Finish 4.30pm.
1 hour lunch break

FOUNDATION LEVEL

20, 21, 22 September 2022 (Days 1, 2, 3 – Training Days) – to be held in-person at London venue
30 November 2022 (Day 4 – Practice Day) – to be held ONLINE via Zoom

All days:
9am for 9.30am start.
Finish 4.30pm.
1 hour lunch break

ADVANCED LEVEL

9, 10, 11, 12 May 2022 (Days 5, 6, 7, 8 – Training Days) – to be held in-person at London venue
6 and 7 July 2022 (Days 9, 10 – Practice Days) – to be held ONLINE via Zoom

Trainer:
Peter Jakob, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Systemic Family Therapist, PartnershipProjects Clinical Director, NVR Association (NVRA) Accredited Practitioner & Supervisor

All days:
9am for 9.30am start.
Finish 4.30pm.
1 hour lunch break

FOUNDATION LEVEL (All days via Zoom)

HELD IN CONJUCTION WITH THE INSTITUTE OF FAMILY THERAPY (IFT)*

Note: SOLD OUT – WAITING LIST ONLY!

21, 22, 23 June 2022 (Days 1, 2, 3 – Training Days) 
15 September 2022 (Day 4 – Practice Day)

All days:
9am for 9.30am start.
Finish 4.30pm.
1 hour lunch break