The Cambridge Forum for Children's Emotional Well-being is based at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education. Find out more about our counselling courses.
Purpose
- To promote and extend the practice and development of psychotherapeutic counsellors in the region
- To offer a vibrant programme of courses and conferences which provide for the continuing professional development of psychotherapeutic counsellors
- To maintain the professional standards of psychotherapeutic counselling
Aims
- To promote and extend the practice and development of psychotherapeutic counselling and to enhance children's emotional well-being
- To promote high standards of training in psychotherapeutic counselling
- To promote high standards of practice in therapeutic work with children and young people
- To promote research and knowledge in the theory and practice of children's emotional well-being
Upcoming events
In 2025/26 we have two in person Forums and one online. We will not be running hybrid sessions. The theme of the Forums this year is providing the right service at the right time for the developmental age and stage of the people we are working with.
Please save the date for the following:
Tuesday 24 February 2026 - 18.30 with Dr Eliana Gil (online)
Saturday 6 June 2026 – Dr Hilary Cremin – further details to follow
Online session
Tuesday 24 February 2026 - 18.30-20.30 with Dr Eliana Gil – Post-Traumatic Play in Children
Unaddressed, trauma can interpret children’s development knocking them off course in their emotional, education and social developmental trajectory. However, given the right opportunities, children have the capacity to “play out” the impact of trauma by utilizing a brilliant self-directed process which allows them to externalize their traumatic experiences, use projection. This allows for reflection, and eventually enables the children to manage their thoughts and feelings through creative interventions. Processing of the trauma supports the children to regain their developmental pathway. This type of play is quite unique and was first described by Dr. Lenore Terry when she did a longitudinal study of elementary school children that were kidnapped and recovered. It became clear that children are motivated to make meaning of difficult experiences and restore personal control and mastery. Usually, the language the children use to communicate and process their experiences is behavior, play, and/or art images, rather than verbal communication. Eliana will talk us through her experiences of working via post traumatic play. Her workshop will look at two clinical cases in which children were able to lead the way towards their own recovery through post-traumatic play. There will be opportunities for questions at the end of Eliana’s presentation.
Dr Eliana Gil is a Founding Partner of Gil Institute for Trauma Recovery & Education, LLC, a group private practice in Fairfax, Va, where she currently works as a Senior Clinical and Research Consultant. She is an Approved MFT Supervisor as well as a Registered Play Therapist/Supervisor, a Registered Art Therapist, a Registered Sand Therapist, and a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist. She is also a Circle of Security Certified Parent Educator, a Level II Theraplay provider, and participated and completed a two-year Individual Certification process with Dr. Bruce Perry. Dr. Gil provides specialized trainings on an array of topics involving trauma, attachment, and treatment options, with an integration of expressive therapies (art, sand, play). Eliana has directed three child sexual abuse treatment programs in Northern Virginia and continues her work in the field of child abuse prevention and treatment. She is also a former President of the Association for Play Therapy and received APT’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.
Dr Gil has written numerous chapters, journal articles, and books on child abuse and related topics and has participated in educational videotapes that feature her work through Guilford Press, as well as a self-published DVD on Family Play Therapy. Her most recent books include Post-Traumatic Play: What Clinicians Should Know and the second edition of Play in Family Therapy.
In-person session
Saturday 6 June 2026 – Dr Hilary Cremin – further details to follow
Dr Hilary Cremin researches, writes and teaches about peace education and conflict transformation in schools and communities. She is concerned with big questions about the future of education and peace building, and works with her graduate students to consider new directions for the field. Hilary has an interest in arts-based methodologies including photo-voice, poetry and autoethnography.
Hilary has worked in the public, private and voluntary sector as a school teacher, educational consultant, project coordinator and academic. She has worked with various adult and community groups and in hundreds of primary and secondary schools throughout the UK and internationally. She has also worked as a community mediator, mediating both neighbour and family disputes. She continues to be involved in the promotion and delivery of conflict transformation and peace-building work in schools and communities.
Please follow this link for information on past Forum events.
Please contact Kat at ppd@educ.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions, or if you would like to be added to the email list to receive information about upcoming Forum events.