I created Dreaming Beyond Trauma™ to bring practical sleep care into children’s trauma recovery—connecting resources for children, capable caregivers and environments that support rest.
Drawing on more than two decades of work with sleep, I help organisations adapt this approach to the children, culture and care setting they serve. I welcome partnerships in Australia and internationally.
Dreaming Beyond Trauma™
This work began with The Sleep & Dream Book, which I wrote for children who had been through frightening or overwhelming experiences. It teaches nine ways to calm the body and settle the mind—skills children can use in bed or during the day, and draw on when they feel unsettled.
I later added the Drifting into Dreamland audio to support children as they settle for sleep.
In 2017, I established the Sleep & Dream Foundation to bring this work to more children and families. Before developing Dreaming Beyond Trauma™, I donated more than 1,200 resources to services supporting children affected by trauma.
Dreaming Beyond Trauma™ grew from the understanding that resources are only one part of what children need. I developed it as an integrated framework for sleep care in children’s trauma recovery—combining skills children can draw on, the support of capable caregivers and environments that help them regulate and rest. Each part reinforces the others.
The framework is designed to fit naturally into existing care settings and daily routines, making sleep care a consistent part of the support children receive.
Empowering resources help children develop ways to settle their bodies and minds, giving them a sense of agency when life feels out of their control. With support and practice, these become skills children can make their own and draw on at bedtime, throughout the day and through life.
Training equips frontline teams with the knowledge, skills and confidence to support children’s sleep and regulation. Parents and carers receive practical guidance, including The Good Sleep Guide for Parents, to care for their child’s sleep and their own—building understanding they can keep using as needs change.
Thoughtful changes to light, sensory conditions and evening routines help create places where children can regulate and rest. Shaped around the spaces and resources available, these changes bring sleep care into the everyday surroundings of refuges and other care settings.
Australian experience
I have delivered Dreaming Beyond Trauma™ in refuges across Western Australia, New South Wales and Queensland, supporting children and families affected by domestic and family violence. Working with frontline teams, I bring sleep care into everyday support.
Staff observations and feedback from families describe easier settling, less disrupted sleep and calmer days. Follow-up feedback also describes greater confidence among staff in supporting sleep, alongside benefits for their own rest.
“He’s nowhere near as restless through the night now, and falls into such a calm mindset after reading with the amber light.”
“They feel more secure in their room with their light and their little bundle for themselves.”
Patricia Giles Centre for Non-Violence and Clarence River service evaluations. These are early findings from small samples, without comparison groups.
Explore the Australian programmeWork with me
I work with your team to bring Dreaming Beyond Trauma™ into everyday care, shaped around the children you support, your culture and your setting.
Potential settings include:
We start with your children, setting and existing routines, then adapt the resources, language and environmental guidance to suit your service.
Through practical training, I help frontline teams and caregivers build the skills and confidence to use the resources and support sleep in their everyday roles.
I guide implementation step by step, helping your team bring sleep care into existing routines and providing support as questions or practical challenges arise.
We agree what data is practical to collect throughout delivery. Together, we review it alongside feedback from staff and families to understand outcomes and guide next steps.
A wider vision
My vision is for Sleep Care™ to become a global standard in children’s trauma recovery—an integral part of the care children receive, wherever they live.
That means working with communities, respecting different cultures and realities, and building the evidence as the work grows.
If your organisation shares this vision, I’d love to explore what we could develop together. Tell me about the children you support, where you work and the possibility you have in mind.