THE RESTA PATHWAY
Our map to psychologically informed best practice in creating sustainable and resilient organisations
Stage 1: Orientation – Building Shared Understanding
Accessible online learning that introduces:
- child and adolescent mental health
- behaviour as communication
- the impact of stress and adversity on learning
- psychologically informed thinking in schools
Format: a series of bitesized video tutorials, suitable for all school staff.
Purpose: to build shared language, confidence and understanding across teams.
Stage 2: Integration – Developing Shared Practice and School Culture
In-depth learning designed to help schools move from understanding into intentional, aligned practice.
This stage focuses on:
- how regulation, stress and learning interact in everyday school life
- building protective capacity through relationships, routines and environments
- the role of emotionally available adults in supporting regulation and learning
- responding effectively when children are overwhelmed or dysregulated
- using clear, shared RESTA frameworks to understand behaviour and guide practice
Format
Two extended, evidence-informed presentations, designed for leadership and staff teams, with structured reflection prompts to support discussion and application.
Purpose
To develop shared ways of thinking and working that:
- improve consistency across staff and systems
- inform behaviour, inclusion and wellbeing practice
- support school culture that builds resilience rather than reacts to difficulty
This stage often prepares schools for structured implementation through RESTA and whole-school embedding through RESO.
Stage 3: Implementation and Impact – Structured Pathways
At this stage, schools move from understanding into intentional implementation.
This typically involves developing targeted capacity (RESTA) within a whole-school, psychologically informed system (RESO).
Rather than standalone interventions, this approach ensures that:
- individual support is consistent with whole-school culture
- staff responses are aligned
- resilience support is sustainable over time
Implementation pathways include:
- RESTA – Resilience Support Teaching Assistants
Targeted, evidence-informed resilience intervention delivered by trained and supervised Teaching Assistants.
- RESO – Resilient Support Organisation
Whole-school systems change, supporting psychologically informed practice across culture, policy, staff wellbeing and inclusion, with progression towards the RESO Quality Mark.
In practice, many schools embed RESTA within a RESO-informed framework, ensuring targeted intervention is supported by consistent, whole-school practice.