our associates

Each of our associates has years of excellence in practice, using the theory and research that underpins our training and consultancy to inform their own work.

They come from a variety of backgrounds: foster care, early years, teaching, therapy, social work, psychology, health and justice. Many of them have moved between disciplines, as their interests have taken them in different directions. What they all offer is a wealth of practical experience, both in direct work with vulnerable people, and in sharing their knowledge and wisdom with others.

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Interested in becoming an associate?

If you have a commitment to sharing transformative knowledge with those who work with children and families, and experience of training or consultancy as well as direct work, then becoming an associate with KCA may appeal.

For more information or to express your interest, please contact us. We will then review your CV, discuss your experience and explore the potential for working together.

Kate Cairns

Photo - Kate Cairns

Kate is an author, speaker and trainer with an international reputation for her work around attachment, trauma and resilience, particularly in relation to vulnerable children and young people. She has been a social worker for forty years, and a trainer for twenty years.

With her husband Brian and their three birth children, Kate provided a permanent family for twelve other children between 1975 and 1997. Thereafter, she worked as a trainer/consultant and writer for the British Association for Adoption and Fostering. In 2002 she published Attachment, Trauma and Resilience, which explored how these three key concepts could provide a structure for understanding ourselves and those with whom we work. The book became a bestseller for BAAF and has influenced practice around the world.

Over the past decade, Kate has concentrated on translating the insights of current neuroscientific research on brain development and function into accessible knowledge and practice skills for carers and practitioners working with children and young people, and for those who support them. She has developed online learning and vocational qualifications, and provided widely-acclaimed training and consultancy to both universal and specialist services across social work, child care, health and education.

Since conducting research for her first book, Surviving Paedophilia (now reissued as Circles of Harm), Kate has been convinced that working with vulnerable people has to be a collaborative exercise. She therefore feels it is a great privilege to be part of a group of associates who embody the shared understanding and vision, and the unity of purpose and action, that are the vital ingredients for supporting recovery and transformation after trauma.

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