Innovative CPD Training from PAC-UK – Delivered by Professional Adoption Counsellors with Lived Experience

Gain the confidence and skills to provide meaningful therapeutic support to adopted adults through this new two-day in-person training.

Dates: November 25 & 26
Times: 9.30am to 5.00pm
Location: PAC-UK Leeds Office, Leeds, LS15 7BD
Price: £250 plus VAT (£300 incl. VAT)

Please click on the 'Register' tab below for a detailed overview of course content and online booking.

Overview

Note: This training is for counsellors, mental health and adoption professionals.

The lived experience of adoption is often complex, layered, and deeply personal. This unique and comprehensive two-day training course - delivered by PAC-UK facilitators with lived experience -offers counsellors and mental health professionals a deeper understanding of adoption-related trauma and how to respond to it in therapeutic settings.

Whether you're new to working with adopted adults or looking to enhance your practice, this course equips you with practical tools, up-to-date research, and real-life insights from those who truly understand.

✔ CPD certificate provided
✔ Led by facilitators with lived experience
✔ In-person delivery at fully accessible venue
✔ Tea/coffee/water provided throughout both days

Please note, lunch is not provided - there are shops nearby and space within the venue for you to sit if you prefer to bring lunch in.

If you are travelling to our PAC-UK Leeds office via public transport, the nearest station is Cross Gates Railway Station (one stop from Leeds Railway Station).

What You’ll Learn – Course Modules:

Day 1:

Module 1: The Background Essentials

1. History of adoption in the UK
2. Current research on adoption and its psychological impact
3. Common presenting issues in therapy
4. Biological and physiological effects of adoption-related trauma

Module 2: The Developing Adoptee

1. The lifelong losses associated with adoption
2. The developing nervous system and the role of early trauma
3. Parenting and attachment styles
4. When trauma is unrecognised or misunderstood

Day 2:

Module 3: The Lifelong Impacts of Adoption

1. Adoption as adaptation
2. Addictions, compulsions, and identity
3. “Being in the fog”: disconnection and dissociation
4. The reunion experience and how the body remembers trauma

Module 4: Modern Adoption and Therapeutic Approaches

1. Changes in adoption practices
2. Best practices for counselling adopted adults
3. How to ‘get in’ – engaging adoptees effectively
4. Somatic work and other therapeutic interventions

Facilitators

Gilli Bruce: Gilli is an integrative therapeutic counsellor and NLP Master Practitioner with lived experience as an adoptee. She brings both professional expertise and personal insight to her work, offering compassionate, client-centred support. Gilli is also actively involved in the adoption community, partnering with 'Adoptees-in-Alliance' and 'How To Be Adopted' to advocate for adoptee voices and well-being.

Mike Hancock: Mike is an accredited BACP counsellor and National Strategic Lead at PAC-UK. Following his own reunion with his birth family he worked with contemporary birth parents across Yorkshire and subsequently has delivered counselling, access to adoption records, intermediary and group work to adopted adults and birth families for many years. With a previous performing career he has trained nationally around these issues and amplified the different voices in adoption through webinars, films and lived experience reference groups.

Sharon Lake: Sharon brings over 20 years’ experience in children’s social care, including roles in safeguarding, fostering, and adoption. A BACP-registered psychotherapeutic counsellor, she works with adults and young people on identity, connection, and belonging. Sharon has supported bereaved individuals and LGBTQ+ communities through CRUSE and MindOut. Since 2023, she has volunteered in intermediary services, becoming PAC-UK Private Intermediary Service Manager in 2024. Passionate about adoption support, she brings a rich, informed perspective to her work and training delivery.

Price excluding VAT

You have the option to pay online via PAC-UK PayPal or via invoice if preferred.

£250 plus VAT.

About PAC-UK

PAC-UK is the UK’s largest adoption support agency and part of the national charity Family Action. This training is developed and delivered by professional adoption counsellors with direct lived experience of adoption, offering unique perspectives not found in conventional training.

If you have any questions about this training, please email Mike Hancock at mike.hancock@pac-uk.org or call 0300 1800 085.