About The Sunflower Network
The Sunflower Network was created in 2018 by Lou Mason, a child and young person counsellor and former TV producer. Her intention was to bring together an inclusive, diverse and extensive multi-disciplinary community of individuals and organisations supporting children, young people and families. We also offer specialist CPD and training events for professionals, as well as our new and steadily evolving service The Sunflower Directory, connecting up child mental health & wellbeing support across the whole of the UK & Ireland.
Why We’re Here
The Sunflower Network has been created to provide support, connection and collaboration in the field of child mental health and emotional wellbeing. We aim to help those in search of the support and also those who provide it. We do this in a number of ways – through our specialist CPD events and trainings, through our bespoke services arranging trainings & reflective practice for schools, charities and organisations, through our professional network across the UK & Ireland connected via The Sunflower Hub, and our other areas of development.
Professional Membership
We offer a selection of different membership options for individual professionals and practitioners working with children, young people and families as well as organisations, charities, CICs, support groups and other specialist services. Memberships include a variety of benefits such as access to our private professional online community as well as an optional profile page on The Sunflower Hub’s directory.
CPD & Events
We offer a varied and eclectic selection of specialist CPD & training focused mainly on children, young people and families. We work with a wide range of acclaimed international trainers and speakers, and current formats range from evening talks to half days, full days and two day trainings. Discounts are available for multiple bookings and group bookings and it is also possible to arrange payments in instalments – please visit our events page for details and our latest programme.
Bespoke Services
We can arrange bespoke training & CPD events for schools, charities, organisations, groups of practitioners & businesses. We offer an independent reflective practice / supervisory provision for teams & staff. We can assist with sourcing staff and specialist consultation. Please contact us on [email protected] to discuss your needs.
In Development
We have a wide variety of new ideas, trainings, projects and services in development currently. If you would like to discuss any possible collaboration or have ideas for development with us, then please contact us on [email protected]
Common Questions
Am I eligible to join?
We accept applications from individual practitioners and professionals based in the UK and Ireland, who are either specially trained to work with children, young people and families, or can demonstrate that they meet the core competencies for working with children and young people as set out by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP), British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) guidelines or equivalent for other professions.
We have a range of criteria that needs to be met in order to join The Sunflower Directory as a member. This is above all and unequivocally a safeguarding measure, but also enables quality assurance that all members are appropriately qualified for their scope of practice, insured, DBS checked, up to date with safeguarding and child protection training, have significant and relevant experience, and come with a professional recommendation.
What information do I need to provide?
There is an extensive application process which requires the submission of some documentation. This includes your qualification certificates, your DBS certificate, proof of insurance and relevant CPD certificates (minimum of three) as well as evidence of recent safeguarding and child protection training.
The full list of the information we request from you can be found at the start of the application process. You may want to gather it all together before you start so you have it all to hand, but you will also be able to pause the process at any point and return to where you left off.
We also ask for contact details for your supervisor and a professional referee so we can contact them for confirmation of some of the information you have given us.
Can I join as part of an organisation?
Yes – we have memberships available for organisations.
How do you ensure safeguarding?
We have a rigorous and extensive application procedure and criteria for all individual practitioners listed on The Sunflower Hub's directory as well as all individual members.
They will have been checked and verified and our criteria includes confirming that they are appropriately qualified for their scope of practice from an accredited training organisation, DBS checked, insured, up to date with their child protection and safeguarding training, in regular supervision or reflective practice, have membership of a registered professional body with ethical guidelines that they adhere to, and that they come with a professional recommendation.
Any organisation, charity, group or specialist service listed on The Sunflower Hub's directory takes its own responsibility for its safeguarding procedures so you would need to ask them for their policy directly.