training for professionals

As one of the UK’s leading refugee theatre companies we have over a decade of expertise in working with refugee communities and promoting migrant justice. We have trained hundreds of professionals in social care, education, theatre, mental health and policy who are keen to develop best practice, learn from lived experience and embrace creative ways of working. Our training and consultancy is overseen by our Joint Artistic Director Kate, who holds a PhD from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in performance making with refugee youth, with a focus on care-centred practice.

Find out about our training below:

Working creatively with refugee communities

This session explores how creative methods can enhance outcomes for refugee engaged work. It equips professionals from social care, education, theatre and more with creative tools to work meaningfully with refugee communities. Grounded in lived experience, trauma-informed practice and collaborative, story and movement-led methodology, our training offers expert guidance in ethical facilitation, co-creation and youth-led approaches. Our team can also offer guidance on workshop planning, creative evaluation, participant recruitment and safeguarding.

’The theatre workshop training with Kate and Phosphoros to be an incredible and informing experience. The sessions were engaging, creative, and pushed me to think differently about how theatre techniques can be used in community and research contexts. I learnt an array of practical tools, from warm-ups to movement exercises, that I now feel confident adapting for my own work. Kate created a supportive and open atmosphere where experimentation felt safe, and I left the training with new skills and buckets of inspiration. I would highly recommend this training to anyone interested in arts-based methods or community led research.’ (Researcher, Kings College London)

Trauma-informed creative practice

This session introduces the core principles of a trauma informed approach, focussing on disconnection to re-connection and how professionals can adapt their practice to support this. This is an opportunity to test creative techniques that we’ve found function really well in our context of working with refugees, asylum seekers and other newly arrived communities. Central to this training are the perspectives of our facilitators with lived experience, who have transitioned from participant to leader and have valuable insight about how to champion work with refugees, particularly for those who do not have lived experience of forced migration.

This training is suitable for professional working with communities who have experienced trauma, and is particularly relevant for those using creative approaches in their work.

’We truly enjoyed our session with Phosphoros Theatre. They provided essential information on working with a Trauma Informed Approach with refugees and asylum-seekers. The workshop was well balanced, both informative as well as allowing for applied discussion and activities. We felt held; and were able to explore how we can take risks whilst managing those risks with care and an understanding of trauma’ (Complicité, 2025)

‘Kate helped us better understand and explore the needs of refugees and individuals seeking asylum who may be unfamiliar with our theatre space. We were able to workshop scenarios that were relevant to our organisation, learn practical tips and small changes that can have a significant impact, and focus on creating a safe and welcoming space. Everyone came out of the training full of enthusiasm and keen to put things into action.‘ (Cambridge Arts Theatre, 2025)

Consultancy

We offer two forms of consultancy: bite-size and bespoke.

Bite-size consultancy is offered as hour-long Zoom sessions with one member of our team where we provide expertise in response to a specific challenge, issue or question facing you in your work. This may be around working with refugee communities for the first time, how to recruit participants, working across languages, how to measure impact, co-creation and more. These might lead into our bespoke consultancy, or be a standalone solution-focused session. These sessions are ideal for academic researchers, artists, filmmakers, journalists and writers who want to engage with refugee narratives and communities but don’t yet have the toolkit to begin.

Bespoke consultancy is longer-form and would tackle a larger piece of work, for example project design, strategic development, scheme of work or framework for creative practice. This is well suited to arts organisations and artists, researchers, educators and social care professionals. Alternatively it could be consultancy on a film or TV project that requires sensitivity reading, advice around casting and trauma-informed practice, or lived-experience expertise. Bespoke consultancy can take place online, at your own venue or at our office in Aldgate.

Please contact us for quotes on any of the above training or consultancy on juliet@phosphorostheatre.com