The Family Place

17/08/2026

✨ Develop your skills in supporting transitions with By Your Side Practitioner Training this October!

Join us online for By Your Side Practitioner Training on 19–20 October 2026, 10am–1pm. This two-session training will help practitioners develop their skills in providing transition work to families.

By Your Side is an attachment-focused and trauma-informed model that integrates Theraplay® and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy. This unique model creates a comprehensive plan that allows all of the adults involved in a transition to work together to support the child.

👉 Find out more and book: https://thefamilyplace.co.uk/training/by-your-side-practitioner-training-3/

Also coming up at The Family Place:

Theraplay® Level 1, MIM Training & Group Training
📅 October 2026

Theraplay® Level 2
📅 November 2026

DDP Level 2
📅 November/December 2026

Find out more about our upcoming training and book your place: https://thefamilyplace.co.uk/training/

12/08/2026

What a brilliant group from Herefordshire Council Fostering for our recent Theraplay® UK-endorsed Parenting with Theraplay course, delivered by Viv Norris!

It was so lovely to spend the two days together. Everyone left with new ideas, practical activities and approaches to take back into their various roles. 🌿

Thank you to everyone who attended for making it such a lovely two days!

07/08/2026

We’ve had another wonderful activity session with some of our families, made possible thanks to the generous support of The Family Place Foundation and The Hedley Foundation. Last month, Josie and Kay joined four families for a morning at Court Equestrian. We met lots of horses in the stables and out in the yard, and then each young person groomed a horse. It was wonderfully relaxing brushing, plaiting and chatting all together. One little girl said 'Mummy, my dream has come true' ✨

And then it got even better - they all had a chance to ride! 🐎

With support from the amazing team at Court Equestrian they all managed to trot, navigate obstacles and tackle some low jumps. Afterwards we had a picnic and celebrated just how brave and skilled all the young people were during the session. It was a delight to see them build their confidence throughout the morning and achieve things they didn't know they could do. Well done everyone! ☺️

04/08/2026

Earlier this year, in April 2026, Josie Hewitt and Emily Barnbrook delivered our Theraplay® Level 1 training course. We want to say a huge thank you to the team at Match Foster Care, who generously allowed us to base ourselves in their offices and were so accommodating throughout.

It was so wonderful and exciting to train such a fantastic group of professionals embarking on their Theraplay® journey. The therapeutic skill and enthusiasm shown by so many of our UK professionals never fails to bring a sense of excitement and hope for the future of Theraplay and the families we work with.

We hope they will continue to nurture their new Theraplay® knowledge and bring that hope into their therapeutic work!

Our next Theraplay® Level 1 training course is taking place this October. To find out more and book your place, visit: https://thefamilyplace.co.uk/training/theraplay-level-1-and-mim-training-droitwich-2/

31/07/2026

This week Annie (our Art Therapist) and Kay (our Registered Manager) ran an Art and Clay Activity Afternoon in Droitwich in partnership with The Family Place Foundation, generously funded by The Hedley Foundation 🎨

Three families joined us and together we made some beautiful creations with foam clay. It was amazing to see so many different ideas, from football scenes and ice creams to snowmen and rainbows.

We then made slime in a range of textures and vivid colours. One of the young people turned out to be a slime scientist and could tell exactly what each batch needed to achieve the perfect consistency!

The young people all said they enjoyed the afternoon and are already keen to meet up again for more arts, crafts and activities in the future.

A huge thank you to The Family Place Foundation for partnering with us, and to The Hedley Foundation for generously funding the session and making afternoons like this possible for local families 💛

29/07/2026

We’re so proud that Josie is now a fully certified Theraplay Supervisor! Congratulations Josie 👏🏼

Josie, we are so happy to have you within our growing international team of Certified Theraplay Supervisors. We thank you for your continued dedication to developing your Theraplay skills and supporting your professional community through supervision.

"My name is Josie Hewitt; I am a certified Theraplay Practitioner, and have more recently become a certified Theraplay Trainer and Supervisor. My Theraplay journey has been one peppered with joy, some challenge and lots of nurturing care. I was welcomed into the Theraplay community as a newly qualified Clinical Psychologist almost 10 years ago, by my trainers, mentors and supervisors; Dr Vivien Norris and Dr Emily Barnbrook. It is to these two phenomenal women that I owe my thanks for seeing what I could be, supporting me and nourishing my practice, every step of the way.

What I value most about Theraplay, is the nourishment of relationship, of connection, of intersubjectivity within parent-child dyads. Yet I also feel the principles of Theraplay embodied within the Theraplay community around me. As I continue on my Theraplay journey I hope to be able to embody the powerful feelings and principles rooted within Theraplay and impart this wisdom to those I endeavour to welcome into the theraplay community through training and supervision, with the same warmth, support and encouragement that was shown to me."

Dr Josephine Hewitt (Josie)
Clinical Psychologist (DClinPsych)
The Family Place; Midlands, England, UK

15/06/2026

One of our Clinical Psychologists, Dr Josie Hewitt, has recently delivered a Parenting with PACE training for new and prospective adoptive parents through St David's Adoption Service.

It was a pleasure to meet this delightful group of new and prospective parents to help them think about therapeutic approaches to parenting the children they are due to welcome into their families.

What a privilege to be part of these earliest days of parenthood filled with hope and possibilities 🌱 We thoroughly enjoy our work with St David's Adoption Service and the parents and carers they support 🤲

12/06/2026

✨ We are running a Sensory Regulation workshop on Thursday 25th June, 10am–12pm, funded by The Family Place Foundation.

This online session for parents and carers explores the development of children’s sensory regulation and sensorimotor systems: what happens when a child experiences early developmental trauma and what you can do to help.

📧 Places are limited, so please contact [email protected] if you are interested!

03/06/2026

We're really proud that our CEO Viv Norris featured on the most recent Pondering play and therapy podcast, joining Julie for a thoughtful conversation about trauma, transitions and the importance of children feeling safe and secure in relationships.

You can listen using the link below, the episode is also available to watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/i36NP9thI6Q?si=Bcud1in8szW8zwbN

Some children don’t just need a home, they need help feeling safe in relationships.

In this deeply thoughtful conversation, Julie is joined by Dr Vivien Norris to explore adoption, attachment, trauma, transition, and what children truly need to heal.

Together they discuss:
✨ why transitions can feel like loss
✨ the impact of repeated moves and broken trust
✨ why behaviour often masks fear and overwhelm
✨ how connection and safety come before therapy can truly begin

This is a powerful episode for adoptive parents, foster carers, kinship carers, therapists, educators, and anyone supporting children impacted by early trauma.

🎧 New episode of Pondering Play and Therapy out now with Viv Norris.
https://linktr.ee/ponderingplay

24/04/2026

We were delighted to host the first of three Theraplay® UK Development and Supervision days this week in Droitwich, led by our CEO, Dr Vivien Norris.

It was an excellent day spent with an enthusiastic and highly skilled group of practitioners. Together, we observed a Theraplay supervision session, shared broad discussions and revisited many Theraplay activities.

All fed back how wonderful it was to be together in person!