Kinship Minds: free self-paced online course
Our free, self-paced online course designed with and for kinship carers. Supporting you to recognise and respond to trauma and mental health needs in your family.
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Who is Kinship Minds for?
This course is for you if you’re a kinship carer supporting children of any age, from babies to teenagers.
You might be struggling with your child’s behaviour and want to understand what’s driving it. Or you’ve noticed changes in their emotional wellbeing and mental health and aren’t sure how to respond. You might want practical strategies you can use straight away to help your child feel safe and supported. You might also be managing your own mental health while you’re supporting them, and you recognise that looking after yourself matters even if it feels hard.
Kinship carers support children who have experienced loss and trauma. If you’re noticing behaviour challenges, emotional struggles or concerns about your child’s mental health, you’re not alone. This course helps you understand what’s happening, discover practical approaches that work, and look after yourself in the process.
What will be covered?
This self-paced online course will support you to recognise and respond to trauma and mental health needs in your kinship family. This course is designed to help you:
- understand how trauma can affect a child’s behaviour, emotions and mental health
- recognise the early signs that your child may be struggling emotionally or with their mental health
- discover practical approaches you can use straight away, for all ages from early years to teenagers
- look after your own mental health and emotional wellbeing
- understand how to work with schools and other support services to help them understand and support your child’s mental health
The course has been designed with and for kinship carers. It reflects your experiences, including the unplanned nature of kinship care, how it changes existing family relationships, and the complexity of contact with birth parents or family. Throughout the course, you’ll hear from kinship carers who’ve experienced similar situations, alongside professionals who understand kinship care.
The course is delivered across 7 modules and takes around 6 to 7 hours to complete. It’s broken down into bitesize chunks so you can dip in and out around your life. You can work at your own pace, anytime that suits you, pausing and returning as and when you can.
What is therapeutic caregiving?
Throughout this course, you’ll learn about therapeutic caregiving. This means understanding that your child’s behaviour is often communication and recognising that their past shapes who they are. It helps you respond in ways that build connection and trust, while helping your child feel safe and supported.
How do you start Kinship Minds?
Getting started is straightforward. The course is free and can be accessed on a computer, laptop, phone or tablet. You just need an internet connection and an email address.
To get started, go to our course page and create an account. Once you’ve created your account you can start whenever you’re ready. You can dip in and out around your life, coming back when you have time. There’s no set time to finish the course in, it could take a couple of days or a couple of months.
You’ll have access to all the course content as long as you need it, even after you’ve finished. You can log back in and revisit any section if your situation changes or when your child gets older.
Once you’ve completed the course, you can download a certificate. We also have a feedback survey at the end of the last module and would welcome your honest thoughts.
Is now the right time to do the course?
Kinship Minds covers trauma, loss, grief and a range of mental health issues. The course is designed to be supportive and practical, but some of the topics may bring up difficult feelings.
If now doesn’t feel like the right time, you can always come back when you’re ready or access one of our other services.
If now does feel like the right time, we recommend finding a quiet, private space where you can reflect on what you’re hearing and reading.
Take things at a pace that feels right for you and remember, you can pause and come back at any time. Module 5 covers your own emotional wellbeing and includes a wellbeing toolkit you can download at any point.
If a member of your kinship family is in immediate danger or experiencing a crisis, seek help straight away.
In an emergency, call 999.
For urgent support, call NHS 111 and select the mental health option, or contact the Samaritans.
The course is here to support you in your everyday caregiving. It isn’t a substitute for professional support, and it is not intended to diagnose or assess your child’s needs. Only a qualified mental health professional can fully assess what a child is experiencing.
What other support is available?
Kinship Minds is one way to access support to recognise and respond to trauma and mental health needs of your kinship family. We also have a range of other services that you may find useful.
We run free workshops, both online and in-person. If you want to explore specific workshops on similar topics, we offer workshops on:
- Understanding trauma and attachment
- Managing challenging behaviour with children in kinship care
- Dealing with emotional challenges as a kinship carer
Our workshops provide opportunities to speak to other kinship carers as well as our experienced trainers who can respond to your questions and experiences.
If you have specific questions or need guidance on a particular situation, our advice team can help. Find out about how to contact our advice team.
Meet other kinship carers in your area or online. These groups provide ongoing connection and peer support on the challenges you’re facing.
A free service where you can speak to a specially trained kinship carer volunteer on the phone.
Sign up to our newsletter to stay updated on new resources, upcoming events and support available to kinship carers.
Use Kinship Compass to discover what’s available locally, from Kinship services to local authority and other organisations supporting kinship families.
Got a question?
Lost your login details?
You can reset your password by going to courses.kinship.org.uk, clicking log in, then selecting “Forgot your password?” Follow the onscreen instructions.
Got stuck in the course?
If you’re having difficulty or can’t move forward, email courses@kinship.org.uk and our team will help.
Have questions about Kinship Minds?
If you have any other questions or concerns, get in touch with us at courses@kinship.org.uk.
Feedback
We’d love to hear your thoughts on the course. There’s a feedback survey at the end of module 7, or you can email courses@kinship.org.uk anytime.
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