Creating Brighter Futures, One Relationship at a Time
“There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” — Nelson Mandela
Our Services
Welcome to Summit Psychology Services, a socially driven service for children, young people, their adults, and professional champions. Summit is dedicated to fostering the growth, development, and aspirations of children and young people so they can thrive. We are a highly experienced, dedicated, multi-disciplinary professional team of HCPC-registered practitioner psychologists and accredited therapists. We take a holistic view of the needs of children and young people and offer a range of support and services, including individual therapy, therapeutic support, and systemic change. We extend our professional practice to supporting schools, children’s services, families, caregivers, residential settings, and the communities within which children and young people move. We work to empower professionals and collaborate closely with organisations and communities.
Our services are designed to meet the unique needs of each child, young person, their supporting network, adults, and champions. Summit’s ultimate goal is to build strong relationships and resilient communities for lasting change so that every child can be nourished and flourish, wherever they may be. We can journey with you for as long or as little as needed to find the best path for you, and you will always be treated with kindness and respect.
Training Courses
Summit is proud to offer a range of creative, quality-assured, and certified training and professional development experiences for schools, children’s services, and supporting professionals. Our work is firmly rooted in the fields of attachment theory, neurobiology, and the neuroscience of trauma, the impact of stress on the body and nervous system, understanding behaviour, loss, ACEs, and the importance of relational care. Summit draws from a wide evidence base, including psychology, related disciplines, therapy, therapeutic approaches, and a wealth of applied practice experiences. We love to collaborate and can develop bespoke training and CPD events to meet your needs.
We are based in Staffordshire and regularly host training experiences at our main address in Newcastle-Under-Lyme and across the West Midlands. We are also flexible and can travel, as well as work virtually. Core training and CPD events for schools include Summit’s Excellent ELSA offer, Emotion Coaching (UK), and our trauma-focused NurturED (©) training series. The NurturED series covers, but is not limited to, relational and developmental trauma, attachment theory, and therapeutic approaches to supporting children and young people.
We work with virtual schools nationally and collaborate with Geese Theatre for a truly outstanding CPD day that blends live performance with a unique fusion of theatre and theory, designed for children and young people with a social worker. Our focus is always on ensuring that you come away from working with us inspired, with greater knowledge, and with practical takeaways that can be applied in your work.
Geese Theatre
‘The Scene and the Unseen’ is designed to support all educational communities in understanding trauma, the relational and attachment needs of children and young people, and the adaptive function of behaviours. We journey through time and dip into the storybook of lived experiences, meeting children, young people, their families, social workers, and teachers. Together, we explore the impact of trauma, relational loss, and disrupted attachments—how this may present, and how we can help—through a unique blend of theatre and theory. It’s the only event of its kind. If you would like to know more about this specific training offer, please contact us.
NuturED©: Training and CPD Events - Trauma Infused, Attachment Aware, and Relational Care
Our NurturED series is a comprehensive offer of Trauma-Informed and Attachment-Aware Training and CPD events. It is designed to equip professionals with the knowledge and skills for recognizing, realising, and responding to childhood developmental trauma(s), adversity, and relational loss. The series explores, through a number of lenses, how we can relationally support vulnerable children and young people who may have a social worker. Our training is drawn from a range of psychology and related disciplines and is rooted in evidence-based practices and contemporary research. It is delivered by highly experienced specialist psychologists and trauma-focused therapists.
Excellent ELSATraining
Emotional Literacy Support Assistants Training (ELSA) We are proud to be accredited and to consistently remain quality-assured trainers for the national ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) programe, which we call Excellent ELSA due to our unique, consistently quality-marked therapeutic training curriculum for schools. We lean into the foundations of what it means to work therapeutically with children and young people, drawing from a wide range of psychology and associated disciplines to support them in education.
Stories of Connection©
This in-depth training is designed for professionals working with children and young people who have faced, and who may still be facing significant adversity. Across four days, you’ll explore resilience models, the power of language, the complexities of trauma, and the importance of relational care. We take a holistic view and begin with models of resilience, risk and protective factors, the power of language and how language can empower and suppress, relational alternatives to psychiatric diagnosis, powerful emotions, shields of shame and concluding with creating safe bases and safe places where everyone can thrive.
Emotion Coaching
Summit Psychology Services is dedicated to offering Emotion Coaching training to support the emotional literacy and resilience of children and young people. Originally developed by Dr. John Gottman and expanded by Emotion Coaching UK, this compassionate approach focuses on co-regulating emotions through empathy, attunement, and gentle guidance. By helping children understand and manage their emotions, we nurture their ability to build resilience, self-regulation, and stronger relationships. Emotion Coaching has a strong evidence base and is integrated into many of our training offers, including our nationally accredited Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) training.
EBSA - Emotionally Based School Avoidance
Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) refers to children and young people who struggle to attend school due to emotional factors, such as anxiety, leading to extended absences. This one day training explores the complexities of EBSA, offering insights into how emotional, psychological, and environmental factors contribute to school avoidance. The course is designed to equip professionals with the knowledge and tools to better understand and support children facing these barriers. Drawing from neuroscience, attachment theory, and research on the impact of adversity, the training emphasises relational care and offers practical strategies for fostering safe, supportive learning environments.
Polyvagal Theory: The Science Of Safety And Connection©
Polyvagal Theory, developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, revolutionises how we understand the body’s response to safety, connection, and threat. This one day event focuses on the autonomic nervous system, explaining how our bodies are wired to seek connection and respond to threat and perceived danger. By understanding the role of the vagus nerve in regulating these responses, we can create environments that support experiences of connection and safety. This theory underpins therapeutic and educational approaches that help individuals transition from survival states to social engagement, promoting emotional and physical well-being.
Talk Abouts©
Summit introduced ‘Talk Abouts’ during Covid restrictions as a way of keeping practitioners and professionals connected on a virtual platform, to mitigate the experiences of isolation and being separated from each other, and to share and find solutions to presenting issues of the time. We took an overwhelming number of expressions of interest for these events, with practitioners and professionals identifying what they wanted to ‘Talk About’ during each 60-minute virtual session. Due to their success then and since, we will be taking expressions of interest to host these sessions once every 8 – 10 weeks from Spring 2025.
Parenting Sexually Abused Children
This nurturing and supportive skills development course is designed to help caregivers provide effective care for children who have been sexually abused. The evidence based (BAAF) course is founded on the belief that children can recover from their traumatic experiences in a family environment where caregivers are actively engaged in supporting their healing journey. This programme equips caregivers with essential knowledge and practical skills to create a safe, compassionate space for children who have experienced sexual abuse, while also nurturing the caregivers’ own well-being.
Geese Theatre
‘The Scene and the Unseen’ is designed to support all educational communities in understanding trauma, the relational and attachment needs of children and young people, and the adaptive function of behaviours. We journey through time and dip into the storybook of lived experiences, meeting children, young people, their families, social workers, and teachers. Together, we explore the impact of trauma, relational loss, and disrupted attachments—how this may present, and how we can help—through a unique blend of theatre and theory. It’s the only event of its kind. If you would like to know more about this specific training offer, please contact us.
NuturED©: Training and CPD Events - Trauma Infused, Attachment Aware, and Relational Care
Our NurturED series is a comprehensive offer of Trauma-Informed and Attachment-Aware Training and CPD events. It is designed to equip professionals with the knowledge and skills for recognizing, realising, and responding to childhood developmental trauma(s), adversity, and relational loss. The series explores, through a number of lenses, how we can relationally support vulnerable children and young people who may have a social worker. Our training is drawn from a range of psychology and related disciplines and is rooted in evidence-based practices and contemporary research. It is delivered by highly experienced specialist psychologists and trauma-focused therapists.
Emotional Literacy Support Assistant
Emotional Literacy Support Assistants Training (ELSA) We are proud to be accredited and to consistently remain quality-assured trainers for the national ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) programe, which we call Excellent ELSA due to our unique, consistently quality-marked therapeutic training curriculum for schools. We lean into the foundations of what it means to work therapeutically with children and young people, drawing from a wide range of psychology and associated disciplines to support them in education.
Supporting Stories of Connection©
This in-depth training is designed for professionals working with children and young people who have faced, and who may still be facing significant adversity. Across four days, you’ll explore resilience models, the power of language, the complexities of trauma, and the importance of relational care. We take a holistic view and begin with models of resilience, risk and protective factors, the power of language and how language can empower and suppress, relational alternatives to psychiatric diagnosis, powerful emotions, shields of shame and concluding with creating safe bases and safe places where everyone can thrive.
Emotion Coaching
Summit Psychology Services is dedicated to offering Emotion Coaching training to support the emotional literacy and resilience of children and young people. Originally developed by Dr. John Gottman and expanded by Emotion Coaching UK, this compassionate approach focuses on co-regulating emotions through empathy, attunement, and gentle guidance. By helping children understand and manage their emotions, we nurture their ability to build resilience, self-regulation, and stronger relationships. Emotion Coaching has a strong evidence base and is integrated into many of our training offers, including our nationally accredited Emotional Literacy Support Assistant (ELSA) training.
EBSA - Emotionally Based School Avoidance
Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA) refers to children and young people who struggle to attend school due to emotional factors, such as anxiety, leading to extended absences. This one day training explores the complexities of EBSA, offering insights into how emotional, psychological, and environmental factors contribute to school avoidance. The course is designed to equip professionals with the knowledge and tools to better understand and support children facing these barriers. Drawing from neuroscience, attachment theory, and research on the impact of adversity, the training emphasises relational care and offers practical strategies for fostering safe, supportive learning environments.
Polyvagal Theory: The Science Of Safety And Connection©
Polyvagal Theory, developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, revolutionises how we understand the body’s response to safety, connection, and threat. This one day event focuses on the autonomic nervous system, explaining how our bodies are wired to seek connection and respond to threat and perceived danger. By understanding the role of the vagus nerve in regulating these responses, we can create environments that support experiences of connection and safety. This theory underpins therapeutic and educational approaches that help individuals transition from survival states to social engagement, promoting emotional and physical well-being.
Talk Abouts©
Summit introduced ‘Talk Abouts’ during Covid restrictions as a way of keeping practitioners and professionals connected on a virtual platform, to mitigate the experiences of isolation and being separated from each other, and to share and find solutions to presenting issues of the time. We took an overwhelming number of expressions of interest for these events, with practitioners and professionals identifying what they wanted to ‘Talk About’ during each 60-minute virtual session. Due to their success then and since, we will be taking expressions of interest to host these sessions once every 8 – 10 weeks from Spring 2025.
Parenting Sexually Abused Children
This nurturing and supportive skills development course is designed to help caregivers provide effective care for children who have been sexually abused. The evidence based (BAAF) course is founded on the belief that children can recover from their traumatic experiences in a family environment where caregivers are actively engaged in supporting their healing journey. This programme equips caregivers with essential knowledge and practical skills to create a safe, compassionate space for children who have experienced sexual abuse, while also nurturing the caregivers’ own well-being.
Who We Help
Our primary focus is on the well-being of children and young people aged 5 – 25 years, with a particular focus on supporting children and young people with a social worker, adopted children, and young people in, or leaving care. We understand the unique challenges children and young people can face and offer tailored services to address their specific needs. No child or young person should be left to navigate emotional, psychological, or social complexities, and our team is here to help.
Our primary focus is on the well-being of children and young people aged 5 to 25 years, with particular emphasis on supporting those with a social worker, adopted children, and young people in or leaving care. We understand the unique challenges they face and offer tailored services to address their specific needs.
We provide specialised support for foster carers and social workers dedicated to the care and development of children in foster care or residential homes. Our services include reflective consultations, clinical supervision, training, workshops, and resources to help them identify and support the needs of the children in their care.
We cherish the vital role that families and carers play in providing a loving and stable foundation for children and young people. Our aim is to support and uplift these invaluable relationships through personalised one-to-one systemic family therapy, compassionate guidance, and thoughtful conversations. By nurturing the connections within families and care environments, we help ensure that every child and young person experiences the warmth and security they need to flourish.
Summit Psychology Services Ltd. has a long and successful history of collaborating with schools, MATs, and alternative educational communities to promote mental health and well-being within educational settings. We offer an extensive range of CPD activities and training for teachers and staff, as well as direct support for students. For educational communities, we also offer Therapeutic Educational Psychology, consultations, and school support.
Our team collaborates with a variety of professional organisations to promote mental health and well-being. We provide consultancy services, training programmes, and collaborative projects to support organisations in implementing effective and supportive well-being practices.
How We Help
At Summit Psychology Services Ltd., we understand that everyone’s journey is unique. Our mission is to provide compassionate and professional support tailored to your specific needs. Here’s how we can help you:
What People Say
Our service users have achieved significant improvements in well-being, happiness, and personal growth, and we’re proud to support them in their personal and professional journeys. As one of our satisfied schools says:
After key work carried out by Summit Psychology Services, understanding, knowledge and practice have improved within our school, ensuring that our children with varying SEMH needs are receiving the best possible support. Adults have felt supported and the children have hugely benefited from the growth in adult knowledge and the tailored support provided because of this.
- Headteacher and SENDCo, Staffordshire
I have worked with Summit in various ways, through therapy and also in consultation. They are highly professional and knowledgeable, and we have had really pleasing and positive outcomes for our young people.
- Social Worker, Fostering Team
