{"id":82575,"date":"2025-08-20T20:45:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T20:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bmaba.org.uk\/clubs\/?page_id=82575"},"modified":"2026-08-20T21:52:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T21:52:25","slug":"trauma-informed-coaching-award-aces-for-martial-arts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/bmaba.org.uk\/clubs\/uk-martial-arts-association-governing-body-instructor-membership\/martial-arts-certification-licensing\/trauma-informed-coaching-award-aces-for-martial-arts\/","title":{"rendered":"Trauma-Informed Coaching Award & ACEs for Martial Arts"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tTrauma-Informed Coaching .<\/i> Levels 1 & 2<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Some Of Your Students Are Carrying More Than You Can See<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Martial arts asks people to be touched, to be shouted at across a hall, to be held down, to stand still while somebody stands behind them. For most students none of that is remarkable. For some it is the exact shape of the worst thing that ever happened to them, and they will never tell you.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Trauma-informed coaching is not therapy and it does not ask you to become a counsellor. It is a set of coaching decisions that make your sessions safer for people you cannot identify by looking at them.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\tGet Access<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tThe full syllabus<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"The\n\t\t\t\t\t\"The\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/header>\n\n\t\t\t
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\n\t\t\t\t\tAhead Of The Sector, Not Behind It<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t

We Were Already Teaching This When The Sector Decided It Was Needed<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

On 24 June 2025 the five UK Sports Councils, UK Sport, Sport England, sportscotland, Sport Wales and Sport Northern Ireland, published the Safe Sport Project Report. Built on a survivor-led consultation with 146 organisations and more than 200 individuals, it described the current safeguarding system as fragmented and inconsistent, and put trauma-informed practice at the centre of what should replace it.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Our Trauma-Informed Coaching and ACEs course was already published and running when that report landed. We did not build it in response to a recommendation. We built it because our clubs were telling us they were coaching people carrying things they had no framework for, and the sector reached the same conclusion afterwards.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

We would rather be the association that has already done it than the one that responds well to being told. That is what an independent standards body is supposed to be for.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\tRead the Safe Sport Report<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n\n\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\tTwo Levels, Two Different Jobs<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t

The Full Running Order For Both<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

Level 1 gives you the understanding. Level 2 turns it into how you actually run a session. Every lesson, in the order you study it.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFoundations<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Level 1: Foundations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

For instructors, assistant instructors and volunteers working with adults, children or both.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

What trauma is and, just as importantly, what it is not. How the body and brain respond, how childhood adversity carries into adult students, and where the ACEs framework is useful and where it is overstated. Then the part that matters on the mats: how trauma actually presents in a martial arts environment, how to recognise dysregulation, and how to know when something is beyond you.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

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  1. An Introduction to Trauma Informed Coaching<\/li>
  2. What trauma is, and what it isn’t<\/li>
  3. The body and brain under trauma<\/li>
  4. Trauma across the lifespan, adults and children<\/li>
  5. Adverse Childhood Experiences, the framework and its limits<\/li>
  6. How childhood trauma presents in adulthood<\/li>
  7. How trauma shows up in the martial arts environment<\/li>
  8. The core principles of trauma-informed practice<\/li>
  9. Recognising distress and dysregulation in your students<\/li>
  10. When to refer, where to refer, and staying in your lane<\/li>
  11. Trauma Informed Coaching Final Exam (Level 1)<\/li>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
    11 lessons<\/span>Final exam<\/span>Same-day certificate<\/span><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t
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    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAssumes Level 1<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    Level 2: Practice<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    For instructors ready to change how they coach, and club leads writing it into policy.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

    Level 2 is where principles become decisions. Language and power dynamics, session design and the room itself, de-escalation, and the hardest one in martial arts: physical contact and consent. It then works through three populations our own programmes put in front of you, and finishes on trauma-informed safeguarding, referral pathways, and writing it into your club’s policies.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

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    1. Introduction to Trauma-informed Coaching Level 2<\/li>
    2. Translating principles into how you coach<\/li>
    3. Language, communication, and power dynamics<\/li>
    4. Session design and the physical environment<\/li>
    5. De-escalation for dysregulated students<\/li>
    6. Physical contact and consent in a trauma-informed setting<\/li>
    7. Managing disclosures and emotional responses on the mat<\/li>
    8. Adult survivors of abuse and violence, in a #PunchLikeAGirl context<\/li>
    9. Men, masculinity, and mental health, in a MANTRA context<\/li>
    10. Children affected by poverty, adversity, or instability, in a Scholarship context<\/li>
    11. Trauma-informed safeguarding in practice<\/li>
    12. Mental health literacy and referral pathways<\/li>
    13. Developing trauma-informed policies and procedures for your club<\/li>
    14. Trauma Informed Coaching Exam (Level 2)<\/li>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/ol>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
      14 lessons<\/span>Final exam<\/span>Same-day certificate<\/span><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n\n\t\t\t
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      \n\t\t\t\t\tWritten Around Real Work<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      Three Of The Level 2 Lessons Are About Programmes We Actually Run<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      This is not a generic trauma module with martial arts vocabulary dropped into it. Level 2 teaches trauma-informed practice through the populations our own social impact work puts in front of instructors, which means the examples are real, the pitfalls are ones we have hit, and the guidance comes from delivery rather than from a textbook.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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      \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"#PunchLikeAGirl\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      #PunchLikeAGirl<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Level 2, lesson 8<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Our campaign getting women and girls onto the mats, a great many of whom arrive having already had to defend themselves. Self-defence teaching is where trauma-informed practice matters most and is most often got wrong: rehearsing an assault with someone who has survived one can retraumatise as easily as it can empower, and the difference lies in how the session is set up, not in the technique.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"MANTRA\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      MANTRA<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Level 2, lesson 9<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Our men’s mental health programme. The men least likely to talk about what they are carrying are frequently already in your class, training hard and saying nothing, and a martial arts hall is one of the few places they turn up to voluntarily every week. This lesson is about what that responsibility looks like in practice without an instructor mistaking themselves for a therapist.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"BMABA\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Scholarship<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Level 2, lesson 10<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Our funded places for children affected by poverty, adversity or instability. A child whose week outside the dojo has been chaos does not arrive as a blank slate at six o’clock, and the behaviour that follows is routinely read as attitude. Coaching that child well is a learned skill, and it is the one most likely to keep them coming back.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ditch\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Ditch The Blade<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Connected, taught separately<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Our knife crime and serious youth violence work. It does not have its own lesson in this course, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise: it is covered in the Knife Crime & Serious Youth Violence award. But the young people it reaches are close to the reason this course exists, and Level 2 is what stops an instructor mishandling the moment one of them says something in the changing room.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tKnife Crime & SYV award →<\/span><\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

      These are BMABA programmes, delivered through BMABA clubs, funded by a not-for-profit with a legal asset lock. The training exists because the work does.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t

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      \n\t\t\t\tHow Our Standards Evolve<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t

      Qualifications That Move When The Sector Moves<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t

      A governing body that never changes its own qualifications is not being consistent, it is being inattentive. Our CPD catalogue is reviewed on a rolling cadence rather than left to age, and reviewed again out of cycle whenever something material shifts: new legislation, updated statutory guidance, a sector-wide review, or clubs telling us that what we teach no longer matches what they are dealing with.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

      This was one course. Teaching it, and listening to instructors who had taken it, made the break obvious: understanding trauma and coaching in a trauma-informed way are different skills, learned at different points, and cramming them together meant the practical half was always the half that got rushed. It became Level 1, Foundations, and Level 2, Practice. If you completed the original award it still stands.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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      \n\t\t\t\t\t\tRolling review, not a rewrite when it is embarrassing<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tCourses carry a review cycle and are revisited on it. Most CPD refreshes on a two-year validity, at which point you simply re-enrol and work through the current version. Coaching qualifications do not expire.<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
      \n\t\t\t\t\t\tOut-of-cycle when the ground moves<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tSignificant legislative change, new statutory guidance or a major sector review triggers a review immediately rather than waiting for the next scheduled one.<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
      \n\t\t\t\t\t\tTold in advance, through the Governance Group<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tChanges reach members before they land, not afterwards. Where a course splits into levels, the convention is Level 1 at practitioner level and Level 2 at coordinator or lead level.<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t
      \n\t\t\t\t\t\tNothing you have earned is taken away<\/strong>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tWe will never release updated CPD in a way that wipes a prior verification, knocks out a linked standard such as Club Colours, or forces you to restart an award because the schedule changed.<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

      Our workforce of instructors, assistant instructors and volunteers is who this is for. When their job changes, the training that supports it should already have changed, rather than catching up afterwards.<\/p>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t

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      \n\t\t\t\t\tWhy This Certificate Carries Weight<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      Anybody Can Publish A Course. Rather Fewer Can Stand Behind One.<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      Trauma is a subject where bad training is worse than none, because it produces confident instructors doing the wrong thing. Here is what sits behind ours.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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      \n\t\t\t\t\t\tCIMSPA<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Endorsed Training Provider<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      BMABA is a CIMSPA Endorsed Training Provider, and we map our qualifications to a recognised professional standard wherever one exists. Mapped is not the same as endorsed: a course is only formally CIMSPA Endorsed CPD once it has been submitted, reviewed and certified, and we say so on the course itself when it has.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      \n\t\t\t\t\t\tUKRLP<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      UK Register Of Learning Providers<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      We are listed on the UK Register of Learning Providers under UKPRN 10098149<\/strong>, the government-maintained record of organisations delivering learning in the United Kingdom. Check our listing<\/a>.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      \n\t\t\t\t\t\tISO 9001:2015<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Certified Quality Management<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Certified under UKAS accreditation via the British Assessment Bureau. Content is version-controlled, reviewed on a cycle and traceable, which is why this course became two levels rather than staying as one and quietly ageing.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      \n\t\t\t\t\t\tISO 27001:2022<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Certified Information Security<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Also UKAS accredited, with zero non-conformities at our most recent audit. Relevant here because trauma-informed practice generates disclosures, and disclosures generate records that have to be held properly.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      \n\t\t\t\t\t\tCyber Essentials<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Government-Backed Baseline<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      We hold Cyber Essentials certification, the UK government-backed scheme covering the technical controls that stop the overwhelming majority of common attacks.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      \n\t\t\t\t\t\tSector<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Recognised And In The Room<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

      We hold a seat on the Martial Arts Safeguarding Group, sit on a CIMSPA advisory board, and are named in Sport England’s own safeguarding guidance for martial arts, where our Club Colours Award carries automatic Safeguarding Code certification.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/article>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n\n\t\t\t

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      \n\t\t\t\t\tWho Gets What<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      Where This One Sits<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      Straight from the membership inclusion handbook, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

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      Silver & Gold<\/strong>Levels 1 and 2<\/span>Full access to all current and future CPD<\/em><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
      Assistant Instructors<\/strong>Level 1 included<\/span>Alongside Safeguarding, First Aid and SEND Level 1<\/em><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
      Affiliate & Bronze<\/strong>Not included<\/span>Upgrade to Silver for both levels<\/em><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      Unlike SEND Level 1 and CHIMA, this one is not on every tier. We would rather tell you that here than let you find out after joining.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\tCheck It In The Handbook<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/section>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t

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      \n\t\t\t\t\t\"BMABA\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
      \n\t\t\t\t\tTrain Anywhere, Anytime<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      Study It In The Car Park Between Classes If That Is What Works<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      Our qualifications and awards are delivered entirely online through our own learning platform, on the website or in the BMABA app. Phone, tablet, laptop, whatever you have in your hand.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t

      Your place is saved as you go, so you can do a lesson on your lunch break, another while the kids are at training, and finish the exam on a Sunday evening. Nothing expires part way through and nothing has to be done in one sitting.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

      Trauma is heavy material, and it is better studied in pieces than pushed through in one sitting. The platform saves your place precisely so you can take it at the pace it deserves.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t