TISCUK Skills Training:How to Be and What to Say to Connect with Teenagers

What you will learn from attending

By the end of the training, delegates will have key knowledge of how to:

• Use tried and tested communication frameworks such as PACE (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity, Empathy) and WINE (Wonder, Imagine, Notice, Empathise) to melt teenage defensiveness and build emotional connection.

• Understand the major changes in the teenage brain and hormonally, so you don’t take personally what is not personal.

• Set boundaries in ways that elevate the teenager’s dignity and invite cooperation. • Understand the impact of trauma on teenage behaviour, and how to respond with curiosity, supporting their ability to reflect not react.

• Use language that validates, empowers, and inspires teenagers – especially those locked in anger, shame, or fear.

• Avoid common communication pitfalls that can escalate conflict/make them withdraw from you.

• Bring about relationship repair.

Training content includes:

• Fascinating case material showing how relational interventions can bring about lasting change to vulnerable teenagers.

• The adolescent brain, why it’s vital you know.

• Understanding how trauma can result in distressed behaviour and what to do.

• PACE and WINE: Demonstration of effective use and case examples (including film). • Language that lands: What to say and what not to say.

• The art of active listening and empathic response.

• When a teen shuts down: why, and how to stay connected.

• Boundaries: how to set them without shaming.

• Empowering teens: encouragement, affirmation, and regulation.

Who should attend

This training is ideal for:

• Educators and school staff

• Youth workers and social workers

• Mental health practitioners and therapists

• Parents, carers, and foster carers

• Anyone who supports or lives with teenagers

Trainer: Dr Margot Sunderland

Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist with over 30 years experience. Author of over 20 mental health books including The Science of Parenting (First Prize winner British Medical Association Book Awards). Director of Innovation and Research Trauma Informed Schools UK. Neuroscience scholar, studied under Professor Jaak Panksepp (Founder of Affective Neuroscience).

Recording & Confidentiality NoticeThis event is designed to be live, interactive, and confidential. Because we’ll be working with real or illustrative case material and encouraging open discussion and break out activites for some sessions, we won’t be recording or distributing the session afterwards. All content and materials are the intellectual property of TISCUK and the speakers and are shared for your personal learning only. Please don’t record, copy, or share them without permission. A full text handout of the presentation will be shared after the event. Thank you for helping us protect the privacy of participants and maintain a safe, trusted space for everyone.