Tes SEND Show 2026

Tes SEND Show live podcast with Katie Greenwood

Posted on by Mia Mitchell

About this episode

If you missed the Tes SEND Show – or were there but couldn’t make every session – this is worth a listen.
 
This is a special episode recorded live at the show, where Dale was joined by Katie Greenwood, Head of Therapeutic Services at Thrive Education Partnership, a multi-academy trust specialising in SEND.
 
Katie was at the show delivering a session on SEMH. Drawing on a decade of work in forensic mental health settings, she looks at how schools can move beyond behaviour management and surface-level strategies, and why behaviour can reflect a nervous system under stress rather than defiance.
 
Katie and Dale explore why trauma-informed practice should really just be called good practice. It isn’t only for children who have experienced significant trauma – it’s about understanding how all of us respond to stress, and how our brain and nervous system work together to keep us safe. As Katie puts it, a child who seems unwilling may in fact be unable. And while “behaviour is communication” is a useful phrase, the real question is: communication of what? It should prompt curiosity, not a fixed conclusion.
 
They talk about the difference between being safe and feeling safe. Katie describes the nervous system as an “internal lighthouse”, constantly scanning for cues of safety and danger, which is why simply telling a child “it is safe” doesn’t work. She also explains that the word trauma literally means wound: the same tap on the shoulder can barely register for one person and really hurt another.
 
The conversation also covers belonging – built from connectivity, voice, agency, presence and safety – and how small “micro moments” of being seen can make a real difference, even in a class of 30. Katie explains why rupture and repair matters so much in relationships, teaching children that they are still worth caring about after a difficult moment.
 
Katie’s top tips from her session: use a “power pause” to give yourself time and space before reacting, and always ask how the child is actually experiencing what we put in place – and ask the child too.
 

Watch the episode

MEET THE SPEAKER

About Katie Greenwood

Katie Greenwood is Head of Therapeutic Services at Thrive Education Partnership. She is a dramatherapist, EMDR therapist, sensorimotor psychotherapist, clinical supervisor and trainer with over 20 years’ experience supporting adults, children and young people with complex emotional and mental health needs.

Katie has worked in schools, Pupil Referral Units, prisons, Young Offender Institutions and secure mental health hospitals, including as a Lead Dramatherapist in forensic mental health. She has lectured at the Universities of Birmingham, Nottingham and Leicester, and is a Partner Assessor for the Health and Care Professions Council.

Her work centres on trauma-informed and relational practice, using creativity, play and embodied experience to support emotional safety and regulation. She is currently completing a PhD on trauma-related dissociation.

About the Tes SEND Show

The Tes SEND Show is the UK’s largest event dedicated to special educational needs and disabilities, bringing together teachers, SENCOs, school leaders, therapists and parents for two days of CPD, seminars and exhibitors.

This series brings you short summaries of some of the 2026 seminar programme, recorded on site in our pop-up podcast studio. A new episode lands every Tuesday for seven weeks.

Visit tes website All Tes SEND Show episodes

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Mia Mitchell

I am a Marketing Assistant at B Squared. Responsible for promoting the #1 podcast for Special Needs - The SENDcast. I get involved in various projects across the B Squared brands and try to add a bit of sparkle wherever I can!

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