Knowledge and Understanding Framework

Welcome to the Knowledge and Understanding Framework

A logo for Knowledge and Understanding Framework Training

As part of our strategy to improve the support and experiences of people with a diagnosis of personality disorder, we offer free Knowledge and Understanding Framework (KUF) training to staff working across multi‑agency organisations in Norfolk, Waveney, and Suffolk. This includes staff from mental health, social care, criminal justice, housing, and related sectors.

KUF is a national training programme for anyone who may work with people whose experiences are sometimes described using a diagnosis of personality disorder, or understood as complex emotional and relational needs. The training is co‑produced and takes a trauma‑informed, multi‑agency approach, supporting greater understanding, inclusion, and compassionate responses to people’s experiences.

KUF is designed to:

Explore different perspectives on complex emotional and relational needs associated with a diagnosis of personality disorder
Develop understanding of how past experiences can shape a person’s current experiences and relationships
Support effective and compassionate working, while considering how individuals, teams, and services can remain resilient
Reflect on a range of approaches to practice, including the impact of our own reactions and responses
Explore the impact of this work on the wider team and organisational context

Our courses we offer

We offer KUF training for staff working with:

Children and young people
Adults aged 25-64
Older People

Training for staff working with adults aged 25-64:

3-Day KUF Multiagency Awareness Training

The 3‑Day KUF Multiagency Awareness Training consists of three full days of facilitated learning, delivered online or in person (09:00-16:30).

To complete the course, delegates must:

Attend all three training days

A certificate is awarded on successful completion of the course.

Please see the course schedule for an outline of the training.

For course dates and registration, click on the area you work in:

Norfolk and Waveney
Suffolk

90-Minute Bitesize Course

The Bitesize usually consists of 90 minutes of facilitated online learning.
If you would like us to facilitate an online or face-to-face session for your team, please contact us .

This course is designed for staff who:

Are unable to attend the full 3‑Day KUF Awareness Training
Are currently on the waiting list
Would like an introduction to KUF prior to attending the full course

To complete the course, delegates must:

Attend the full session.

For more information including course dates and how to register, see the course flyer .

Training for staff working with children and young people (up to age 25):

2-Day CAMHS and YAMHS KUF Training

The CAMHS and YAMHS KUF Training consists of two full days of facilitated learning, delivered online or in person (09:00-16:30).

To complete the course, delegates must:

Attend both training days

A certificate is awarded on successful completion of the course.

For more information including course dates and how to register, see the course flyer .

Training for staff working with Older People:

1-Day Older People's Training

The Older People’s KUF Training consists of one full day of facilitated learning, delivered online (09:00-16:30).

To complete the course, participants must:

Attend the full day

For more information, including course dates and how to register, see the course flyer.

Our Team values

We worked together as a team to co‑produce our own values, ensuring they align with and sit clearly within the wider Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust's TALK values framework. These values guide how we work with one another, how we deliver training, and how we support change across services and communities.

The KUF Development Team champions:

Hope - Acceptance and belief in growth
Compassionate curiosity - Learning, reflection, and insight
Relational understanding - Empathic and validating relationships
Overcoming stigma - Challenging misconceptions and recognising potential
Co-production - Embracing lived and learned experience

...in ourselves, in our services, and in our communities.

Graphic displaying KUF Team values: Hope, Compassionate Curiosity, Relational Understanding, Co-Production, and Overcoming Stigma in ourselves, in our services and in our communities

Trainers

Simon Barker

A portrait photo of Simon Barker I have worked in the mental health sector for over 20 years, developing co-designed and co-delivered services for people living and working in Norfolk and Suffolk. A large part of this work involved orientating staff to new models of working within services that champion lived experience, recovery work and the social model. I have my own lived experience of navigating mental health challenges.

Sally Harrington

A portrait photo of Sally Harrington I’ve worked in the mental health sector since 1985, in a variety of settings including the NHS, Social Services, and several voluntary sector organisations. I’ve always been committed to innovation in mental health work, and to promoting the value and influence of lived experience. I have substantial experience as a mental health carer, and have a background of complex emotional needs myself.

Carl Coughlin

For the past 10 years I have worked as a volunteer in mental health services, co-developing and co-delivering the Personality Disorder and Complex Needs Strategy for NSFT. I have also worked on Needs Typing and Personality Disorder Bitesize training, a Living Well with Personality Disorder course with the Recovery College, and as a Supportive Friend on an acute ward.

I have lived increasingly well with emotionally unstable personality disorder since diagnosis 12 years ago. It was always my ambition to become a Lived Experience KUF trainer as KUF was the first course I attended (in 2013) which confirmed to me that a good level of management of personality disorder is realistic. I am delighted to have been appointed as the KUF Lived Experience Trainer for Suffolk.

Anya Jarvais

Caring for family members with serious mental health issues and physical disabilities since childhood, I have over 25 years of experience in this field. My recovery journey from traumatic triple bereavement, complex emotional needs, and other mental health issues adds to my wealth of lived experience.

I studied BSc Combined STEM, specialising in psychology, and became the first Carers’ Peer Support Worker serving Woodlands Hospital. I am inspired to contribute to on-going improvement of services for those diagnosed with a personality disorder or related labels, through collaborative delivery of the Knowledge and Understanding Framework training programme.

Holley Buller

I have been working in NSFT mental health services for the last 5 Years and have found great value in doing so. After being diagnosed with EUPD in 2014, I started a journey of finding insight into myself and the diagnosis.

It led me towards my recovery and I found purpose in supporting others to do the same. I volunteered with services and it led to me working as a Peer Tutor, delivering educational courses for the Recovery College.

I have supported others with CERN's & Personality Disorder for the last few years, co-developing and co-delivering Personality Disorder courses as well as volunteering as a part of the Waves Programme to support participants and share my lived experience of Recovery.

Working towards a better and wider understanding of Personality Disorder has led me to join the KUF team and become a lived experience trainer. I look forward to working together to build a positive culture for us all in mental health services.

Mark Brown

I have worked within NSFT mental health services for over twelve years, including in young people’s services, psychosis services, and as a locality lead within the Trust’s Recovery College. In these roles, I particularly valued supervising, training, and coaching people to use their lived experience to inspire others and co‑develop services.

Before joining NSFT, I worked as a qualified schoolteacher, graduating from Durham University with an MA in Education. Alongside my professional and learned experience, I am proud to bring my own lived experience of mental health to the KUF training team.