PACE – which stands for Play­ful­ness, Accep­tance, Curios­i­ty and Empa­thy – is a pow­er­ful, trau­ma-informed approach to build­ing safe, trust­ing rela­tion­ships with chil­dren and young peo­ple. In res­i­den­tial child­care, where many chil­dren have expe­ri­enced sig­nif­i­cant adver­si­ty, PACE offers a way of con­nect­ing that sup­ports emo­tion­al heal­ing and behav­iour­al growth.

By approach­ing chil­dren with warmth, open­ness and a gen­uine desire to under­stand their inner world, staff can reduce con­flict, strength­en attach­ment, and help chil­dren feel safe enough to explore their thoughts and feel­ings. Over time, this can lead to improved emo­tion­al reg­u­la­tion, increased trust in adults, and a stronger sense of self-worth.

But PACE doesn’t just help chil­dren – it sup­ports adults too. Res­i­den­tial care work can be emo­tion­al­ly demand­ing. PACE pro­vides a con­sis­tent frame­work that helps teams stay ground­ed, reflec­tive, and con­nect­ed to each oth­er and the young peo­ple they sup­port. It fos­ters a cul­ture of empa­thy and under­stand­ing, mak­ing the work more sus­tain­able and emo­tion­al­ly reward­ing.

Want to know more?
If you’re inter­est­ed in train­ing, work­shops or sim­ply learn­ing how PACE could sup­port your team and the young peo­ple you care for, please get in touch – we would love to hear from you.

Head of Therapy

I’ve been part of Clover Child­care Ser­vices since it was estab­lished in 2007, and have been priv­i­leged to grow along­side the organ­i­sa­tion as we’ve deep­ened our com­mit­ment to ther­a­peu­tic, attach­ment-focused care. I qual­i­fied as a social work­er in 2014 and have man­aged each of our res­i­den­tial homes, achiev­ing Out­stand­ing Ofst­ed judge­ments at every set­ting under my lead­er­ship.

In 2023, I became a cer­ti­fied DDP Prac­ti­tion­er, and in 2024, a DDPi-accred­it­ed PACE Train­er. These mile­stones reflect my pas­sion for sup­port­ing chil­dren through rela­tion­ship-based prac­tice, and for equip­ping the adults around them with the knowl­edge and tools to respond with Play­ful­ness, Accep­tance, Curios­i­ty, and Empa­thy.

As Head of Ther­a­py, I over­see the imple­men­ta­tion of our ther­a­peu­tic mod­el across all homes and ser­vices. I work close­ly with staff, clin­i­cians, and exter­nal pro­fes­sion­als to ensure that every child is sup­port­ed in a way that is safe, con­sis­tent, and emo­tion­al­ly attuned. My work con­tin­ues to be guid­ed by a deep belief in the pow­er of con­nec­tion, the impor­tance of reflec­tive prac­tice, and the heal­ing poten­tial of authen­tic rela­tion­ships