Mine Conkbayir on Trauma-Informed Practice

Mine Conkbayir is leading the way in helping us to rethink the way we approach Early Years, trust our instincts, and put children at the very heart of it all.

Mine and I sat down for half an hour to talk about about the Corona virus, what it will mean for young children’s mental health, and how we need to respond as Early years educators.

What does she advocate for? Well to start with, traditional "behaviour management" in education and care services needs to be thrown out the window. Instead, we need to focus on child-centred practice that seeks to understand every child, where they come from, and what their behaviour means. What we need, is trauma-informed care and practice.

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What is trauma-informed practice?

In this wide-ranging talk, Mine and I discuss a whole range of topics, including:

• The impact of traumatic events, trauma exposure, and traumatic stress on young brain development
• The importance of self-regulation
• How to reshape early years care and integrate knowledge about trauma in our practice, routed in the evidence base we have.
• A more progressive approach to meeting children's needs than traditional "behaviour management"
• The impact on SEND children
• How to create a more inclusive environment and help children to feel safe
• They key principles of trauma-informed approaches
• The impact of bereavement on young children
• Why we need to focus on wellbeing, not curriculum

Who is Mine Conkbayir

Mine is a lecturer, award-winning author and trainer. She has worked in the field of early childhood education and care for over 17 years. She is currently undertaking a PhD in early childhood education and neuroscience to develop her work in the complex and challenging subject of infant brain development.

Where can I learn more?

You can find more information about Mine’s approach and research on her website and catch up with her latest thoughts and projects.