Protective Behaviours Specialist Practitioner (also known as 'Process into Practice' or 'P2P') is a 4-day course designed to consolidate and deepen participants' knowledge and understanding of the Protective Behaviours (PBs) process. Participants will have the opportunity to develop their skills and confidence as a Specialist PB Practitioner, supporting colleagues using PBs in the workplace, promoting and sustaining PBs on a wider scale within an organisation and developing PB-consistent resources. This is achieved by spreading the course over two 2-day sessions ideally separated by a period of at least two weeks to provide time for reflection, work-based practice and further internalisation of the process. During the final 2-day block participants will have time to share ideas and resources.

Di Margetts, who originally designed the course, described it as '4 days of immersing ourselves in the Protective Behaviours Process'. This experience was also described by a course participant as 'a wonderful and valuable indulgence'. By this they meant how often do we have the opportunity to focus deeply on and internalise something we have previously learned?

A PB Specialist Practitioner needs to know and understand the relevance of each element in a specific context. They do not however need to use the whole process with everyone they 'practice' with. The skill of being a Specialist Practitioner comes with knowing which bit, with which person/people at which time. This is what differentiates PB Specialist Practitioner training from PB Trainer training. PB Trainer training is about training a group of people to go out and train PBs.

The Specialist Practitioner Course is for people who have completed 2-day Foundation Protective Behaviours training and are currently using the PB process. It is also for people who are interested in developing their knowledge of PBs for their own personal development. This course is an essential step for someone wishing to become a PB trainer endorsed by the Protective Behaviours Training Partnership as we cannot become a trainer without having a deep understanding of all the elements of the process. This does not imply that everyone who completes Specialist Practitioner training wants to go on to become a Protective Behaviours Trainer.

On successful completion of this course, attendees will receive log in details to access further on-line resources to support the application of PBs as a Specialist Practioner.

The learning outcomes for the Specialist Practitioner (P2P) course are that each participant will be able to:

  • explain each element of the Protective Behaviours (PB) process to another person
  • identify the key points within each element of the PB process
  • identify the connections between each element of the PB process
  • recognise resources consistent with the PB process
  • develop resources consistent with the PB process
  • monitor language for consistency with the PB process
  • work in a more in-depth way with the PB process
  • support other people who are using the PB process – a PB Specialist Practitioner
  • recognise barriers/resistance to the PB process
  • identify strategies to overcome barriers/resistance to putting the PB process into practice