Positive Handling in Cumbria and the North West: additions to our team!

Did you know that we provide training in Positive Handling in Cumbria and the North West?

Probably not!  The truth is that our Managing Director (and one of our principal trainers), with exceptional experience of working with school staff on some of the most complex and difficult behaviours, currently lives in Penrith, the Lake District!

Gerard moved to to the Lakes in January 2020, just before the COVID lockdowns, with his family and three children.  Vanessa, his wife, became the Director of Education for Carlisle Diocese (see the press release here) which brought the family from their previous home in Surrey at St Teresa's School where they lived onsite.  Vanessa was previously the Head of Boarding at the school, looking after the pastoral needs of the students there.

Dynamis was established in 2006 in Edinburgh, but has always been focussed on delivering training nationally (and now internationally with UAE and truly global delivery happening!).

Since moving to Penrith in 2020, Gerard and the family have settled in brilliantly, and the opportunities to provide training around Cumbria have been welcomed, as they are close to home in many senses.

Here are the feedback comments from a school in Keswick who recently completed the training with us.

Gerard has been as far west in the county as for Schools in Whitehaven and as far north as for schools in Carlisle to help staff to prevent risky behaviours from happening in the first place, but also to have staff practice the procedures and appropriate techniques for dealing with situations which may arise.

Gerard has also recruited two new trainers to the team, based in the North-West of England, specifically based in Penrith and in Macclesfield, near Manchester, to be able to provide support to schools in the North West (and North East) of England in the form of positive handling training.

Following on from years of experience in delivering positive handling courses in Greater London, Newcastle, Birmingham, Warwick, Cambridge, York and around the whole of England, the company sees this as a very positive step forward to be able to bring our unique approach to schools specifically in this most rural of communities.

Gerard, as Director of Training, has been spending considerable time with the training team to ensure that the advice and guidance from our colleagues at Loughborough University which focusses our efforts on learning and transfer to your workplace, so that when Positive Handling (sometimes called 'team teach') skills are required, your team will make robust, lawful decisions and have the ability to keep everyone safe from harm.

This is a unique aspect of Dynamis training in Positive Handling which differentiates us from our competition - the focus on our learners actually being able to perform de-escalation and physical intervention skills under the stress of a real incident.  Classroom-based models can crumble quickly under the pressure of live events, and so how your Positive Handling training is structured (and what you practice in it!) is really important.

Dynamis teaches an approach to Positive Handling which is both practical for staff and sensitive to the needs of children - and this attracts the attention of responsible school leaders who are looking for positive handling for their teams which is focussed on avoidance, prevention and then ultimately, safe containment of behaviours if absolutely necessary.

Dynamis trainers are all full-time, qualified and insured professionals.  Our team all hold recognised qualifications in Adult Education and Level 3  Qualification in Physical Intervention, offering you peace of mind that you are getting the best possible advice and training.

We teach a blended approach of behaviour management skills backed with effective but non-harmful physical alternatives which are practical and appropriate.  Our goal is to "treat every person with dignity and show them respect, even in the most challenging of moments".

Our positive handling training for teams in 'Cumberland and Westmorland' is based on national-level guidance and best-practice in behaviour management, supported by our legal and medical audits by top experts in the field.

We tailor the training for each environment we work in:  Early Years, Mainstream Primary, SEN contexts, Secondary Schools, highly inclusive environments and alternative education provisions all over the country.

Each school we work with completes a "Training Needs analysis" (TNA) before getting started on the training programme, as it is the safest and most robust way for your organisation to approach  training in a school setting in any part of the country, not just in Cumbria!

We would be delighted to come to your Cumbrian school and help you (whether nearer to Kendal, or nearer to Carlisle or 'out west' in Workington!)  - just get in touch and we will take it from there!