About Us
Frankish Training is dedicated to promoting meaningful lives for people with complex needs by reducing the impact of trauma.
The individuals will mostly have additional intellectual disabilities but some will have mental health or personality issues. We do this by training direct support staff and practitioners to identify when trauma occurred, how this has impacted an individual’s emotional development and to implement interventions aimed at facilitating emotional development.
Frankish Training was founded by Dr Pat Frankish, consultant psychologist and psychotherapist. Dr Frankish has over 35 years’ experience working with children and adults with complex needs.
The Frankish approach is based on four key principles:
- Trauma is any event that has a negative impact on the individual. What is traumatic for one person won’t necessarily be traumatic for another.
- Early trauma impacts emotional development.
- The emotional developmental stage at which trauma occurred can be identified using the Frankish Assessment of the Impact of Trauma.
- Interventions based on healing of trauma and negative attachment experiences facilitate emotional development.
This genuinely trauma-informed approach to supporting people with complex needs promotes a nurturing environment for both service users and staff. It has been shown to facilitate progression to higher levels of emotional development from what had previously been seen as a ‘stuck’ position. The quality of life has significantly improved, including ending the need for restraint, increased vocabulary and interaction, reduced challenging behaviour and reduced staff turnover.
Our courses are available online with ongoing tutor support. You can study in your own time and at your own pace.