PACE – A Therapeutic Approach
What is PACE?
The PACE parenting model was created by Dan Hughes, a clinical psychologist specialising in the treatment of children who have experienced abuse and neglect.
PACE is a way of thinking, feeling, communicating, and behaving that helps a child feel safe.
It helps to promote secure attachments and enables a child to reflect on their thoughts and behaviours without being judged.
Principles of PACE
Playfulness
A light-hearted, relaxed and playful attitude. Helps the child feel connected within their relationship. Helps the child experience fun and love.
Acceptance
Accepting the child for who they are and not what they achieve is very important. It is important to make the child aware that it is their behaviour that is unacceptable not them as a person. The child needs to feel liked and accepted for who they really are.
Curiosity
Figuring out what is going on. Understand the meaning behind the behaviour.
- Wonder about the child.
- Wondering with the child.
Make best guesses about the inner experience of the child.
Empathy
One of the most important aspects of the PACE approach.
To understand a child’s needs you have to be able to “step into their shoes”.
Empathy allows an individual to feel their feelings and know that their feelings have been heard and are valid. You may not agree with their feelings and opinions, which is ok but by listening you are supporting them to not suppress their feelings, which is crucial to positive mental health.
Think about your relationships in your own life. Do you open up to people who are harsh and do not listen to you? Or people who listen, are accepting of you, and value you as a person?
Top Tips for Empathy by Dr Johanna Hilton CPsychol
AFBPsS
BPS Chartered Psychologist
HCPC Registered Practitioner Psychologist
Consultant Clinical and Forensic Psychologist
B.Sc. (Hons.) MSc. D.Clin.Psychol.
- Empathy is a skill to develop with practice.
- Say something that guesses at how the child is feeling.
- Use cautious language – “I wonder if / you might be / it seems” rather than “you must be / I bet you are”.
- Match your voice tone to their feeling.
- Avoid direct questions – don’t ask “are you feeling angry?”.
- Talk about their feelings, not yours or another’s – don’t say “imagine how your mum / sibling / peer will feel”.
- Try to stress the here and now of their distress – use “today”, “right now”, “at the moment”.
- Remember, avoid the temptation to add a BUT!
PACE Stands For:
is for Playfulness
is for Acceptance
is for Curiosity
is for Empathy
How To Use
PACE in Schools
Through PACE, and as they begin to feel safer, children discover they
can now do better
Principles for Security
Both hands are needed
Hand One
Provides warmth and nurture
Hand Two
Provides structure and boundaries
Connection before correction
How This Can Be Applied in the Classroom
Can lessons begin and end with any mindfulness or gratitude practices? (See resource library for ideas)
Are there any opportunities to practice self-regulation skills?
Are there any opportunities to practice Proprioception activities during lessons or breaks?
Pulling and pushing movements will engage the brain. This will wake up hypoarousal students and also ground hyperarousal students.
Use the resource library for a list of Proprioception activities and brainstem callers by Beacon house.
Setting classroom challenges will support engagement!
Children need to learn about their fight, flight, and freeze response to help them to understand that this is a normal physiological reaction that all humans experience and will help them to make sense of why they may have experienced anxious symptoms at times.
There are so many great YouTube clips to help children to learn about this and the Brain Builder DVD by Family Futures is excellent for teaching children about their brain, its reactions, and how to build their own resilience strategies/toolkit.
By showing children the smoke detector and watchtower parts of their brain, you will support their learning around why they may become dysregulated at times and will help to reduce their shame levels.
Can those children who always want your attention and want to be the class clown have a pre-agreed signal? This could be a thumbs-up signal from you, so you are letting them know you have noticed them. Explaining on a one to one basis you are there to support them but can not be available constantly. You will check in with them when you can. This may prevent the behaviour from escalating.
Are there visual timetables in the classroom? Predictability can help reduce anxiety.
Social stories can help children to gain a better understanding of how others feel. For children who find different environments really challenging, it can help them learn how to behave in different social settings. This can be particularly useful if you are going on trips!
Is there a safe space for children to go to when you recognise they are going into flight? A plan could be agreed with them that allows them to leave the classroom when they feel this way, with the aim of them learning to self-regulate and then being able to return to learn. Maybe these safe spaces need blankets, something to smell, to squeeze, opportunities to write down thoughts, or even a fit ball to roll on. Sensory equipment will aid regulation and help children learn valuable self-soothing skills so they can return back to the classroom environment much quicker. Think of the bottom-up approach.
A lesson could be dedicated to helping young people identify when they feel triggers themselves and what helps them to calm down. Promoting resilience skills and learning to recognise what their individual strengths are. Do they know who their safe people are and who they can go to in and out of school?
Children and young people need to know about their inner voice as this causes a lot of anxiety and negative self-talk. A good activity to do with children to help demonstrate their inner voice is to ask them to read a sign without saying this out aloud. You can explain that this proves we talk to ourselves all the time!
We all have an inner chimp.
Manage Your Chimp!
A powerful book to help children and young people develop this skill further is The Hidden Chimp by Prof. Steve Peters.
The Chimp Paradox may be more suitable for older teenagers.
