Free Online Taster
Hearing the Child Without Harm Series
Free 60-Minute Online Taster
Trainer: Katy Harris
Family & Civil Mediator | Child-Inclusive Specialist | Trauma-Informed Practitioner | International Speaker
Duration: 60 minutes | Live online
Children’s voices matter. But when they are poorly held, over-interpreted, or transmitted raw into adult systems, listening can unintentionally cause harm.
Why Child Voice Requires Containment is a free, 60-minute introductory session exploring one of the most urgent and misunderstood challenges in family justice and child-inclusive practice: how to hear children without placing emotional or decision-making responsibility on them.
This session is not about “doing more child voice”. It is about understanding when listening helps and when it harms, and why child-inclusive work must always be safeguarding-led.
Who this session is for
This session is suitable for:
- Family mediators and aspiring mediators
- Family lawyers and legal professionals
- CAFCASS and court-adjacent professionals
- Mental health practitioners working with separated families
- Safeguarding, early-help and education professionals
- Anyone whose work relies on children’s expressed wishes, behaviour or stated preferences
No prior training in child-inclusive practice is required.
What we’ll explore
In this 60-minute session, we will look at:
- Why “listening to the child” can become unsafe when it transfers adult responsibility
- The difference between voice and choice
- How fear, loyalty and pressure shape what children say
- Why raw transmission of children’s words can escalate conflict
- What ethical containment actually looks like in practice
This session is values-led and reflective, not technical.
What you’ll take away
Participants will leave with:
- A clearer ethical framework for hearing children’s voices safely
- Greater confidence in holding child voice without asking children to decide
- Language to explain ethical limits to colleagues, parents or courts
- Increased awareness of safeguarding risks in child-inclusive work
Our Professional Bodies
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Important Boundaries
This is an introductory taster session. It:
- does not teach skills
- does not prepare participants to meet with children
- does not qualify or certify child-inclusive practice
Participants who wish to deepen their learning can progress to the 3-hour foundational course, Child-Inclusive Practice Fundamentals.
About the model
This session sits within Hearing the Child Without Harm, a safeguarding-first international training model grounded in the UK Family Mediation Council Child-Inclusive Mediation framework and informed by developmental science, trauma-informed practice and neurodiversity-aware approaches.
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Accredited family mediators with over 16 years of experience working with families, focusing on the mental health, wellbeing, and cooperation of your seperation.
82%
Found online family mediation to be more successful and rewarding through online channels.
98%
Family mediation proved to provide a more successful and agreeable resolution than the courts.
93%
Percentage of mediation cases that are successful in resolving disputes amicably.
Complimentary Mediation Services
To help families to the best of our abilities, we provide a handful of complimentary services such as a free initial consultation or telephone call assessment, and basic parent plans to help guide you moving forward. If you would like more details about these services.
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COVID UPDATE
Covid-19 Notice
With the impact of COVID-19, some of our services have been amended accordingly. As an additional option, we are continuing to offer a full service to clients through online means. Now that restrictions are lifted, we will also be offering the option of face-to-face meetings keeping to the government’s social distancing guidelines.
Measure their body temperature
Frequently disinfect hands
Wear face masks if required/ or asked
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Suite 2,
Rosehill 165 Lutterworth Road,
Blaby,
Leicester, LE8 4DY
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